Project Grant 2241536

This three-year $179,727 project grant from the National Science Foundation Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences, under the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences program (CFDA 47.075), will fund research at the University of Arizona examining the social and structural predictors of delays in diagnosis of medical conditions with ambiguous symptoms. The research aims to determine whether marginalized status and the structure of patient-physician network ties are associated with longer diagnostic delays for diseases that are difficult to diagnose due to vague symptoms. By combining Medicaid claims data with physician data, the researchers will quantitatively test hypotheses that marginalized groups face greater delays due to potential effects of racial and gender stereotypes in the diagnostic process. They will also analyze whether network structures that facilitate exposure to diverse information and acceptance of diagnostic errors enable faster diagnosis. Findings seek to inform interventions to reduce health disparities from diagnostic errors, estimated to cause up to 80,000 hospital deaths annually.