Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42658404›Full record

ArticleJournal of racial and ethnic health disparities2026

Breaking Barriers: Understanding Mental Health Care Disparities in Latino and African American Populations.

Bianca Taylor, Karla Collazo Melian, Grettel Castro, Nathaly Desmarais

Abstract read
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Bianca TaylorDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA. bitaylor@fiu.edu.
Karla Collazo MelianDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA.
Grettel CastroDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA.
Nathaly DesmaraisDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

aimsThis study examines disparities in mental health service access and unmet need among Non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic adults compared to Non-Hispanic White adults in the United States.

methodsThis pooled cross-sectional analysis examined racial and ethnic disparities in mental healthcare access and unmet need. We utilized data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an annual cross-sectional survey conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) providing nationally representative data on substance use, mental health, and healthcare utilization among the U.S population aged 12 years and older, pooling data from 2019 to 2021, analyzing 25,892 adults aged 18 years and older who identified as Non-Hispanic White, Non-Hispanic Black, or Hispanic. Race/ethnicity served as the independent variable. Two outcomes were assessed independently: (1) received mental healthcare in the past 12 months and (2) unmet perceived need for mental healthcare. Binary logistic regression models adjusted for age, sex, insurance status, employment, family income, and geographic location.

resultsDescriptive analyses showed Non-Hispanic White participants had higher rates of receiving mental healthcare (79.8%) compared to Non-Hispanic Black (71.3%) and Hispanic (67.6%) participants. Conversely, minority participants reported higher rates of unmet perceived need: Hispanic (54.4%), Non-Hispanic Black (48.6%), and Non-Hispanic White (41.2%). Adjusted analyses confirmed these patterns: Non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic participants had significantly lower odds of receiving mental healthcare (Non-Hispanic Black: OR = 0.63, 95% CI = 0.56-0.70; Hispanic: OR = 0.65, 95% CI = 0.60-0.71) compared to Non-Hispanic White participants. For unmet need, both Non-Hispanic Black (OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.13-1.38) and Hispanic participants (OR = 1.31, 95% CI = 1.21-1.42) had significantly higher adjusted odds. The addition of sex to the adjusted models did not alter the race/ethnicity associations; female sex was independently associated with higher odds of both receiving care (OR = 1.09, 95% CI = 1.02-1.17) and reporting unmet perceived need (OR = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.19-1.33).

conclusionsThese findings highlight a persistent pattern in mental healthcare disparities during the COVID-19 pandemic period (2019-2021). Both Non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic adults faced significant barriers to receiving care, with lower odds of service receipt and higher odds of unmet need. Policy initiatives must address structural barriers to access, including insurance coverage gaps, workforce shortages in minority serving communities, cultural and linguistic barriers, and structural racism in healthcare systems.

Indexed as

COVID-19Cultural humilityHealthcare accessHispanicMental health disparitiesNon-hispanic blackQuality of careStructural racismUnmet need

Identifiers

PMID42658404

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.