This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Study links insurance status, race with mortality after spine trauma
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
DALLAS — Results of a recently presented study indicate that non-white and African-American patients had increased mortality rates after spine trauma.
The findings also show that patients who lacked insurance had increased mortality rates and decreased length of hospital stays, intensive care unit stays and ventilator time.
“This study highlights the potential negative impact of race, ethnicity and insurance status on outcome of spinal trauma,” Andrew J. Schoenfeld, MD, said during his presentation at the North American Spine Society 2012 Annual Meeting. “The other risks that are identified should be immediately translated to improve patient family counseling and enhance therapy.”
The researchers pooled data on 75,351 incidents of spine trauma from the National Trauma Database to assess the effects of patient demographics, injury-specific factors, race/ethnicity and insurance status on outcomes after spinal trauma. They measured in-hospital mortality, complications, length of hospital stay, length of intensive care unit (ICU) stay and differences between ethnic groups and insurance status.
Patients had an average age of 45.8 years. Male patients comprised of 64% of the group. African-Americans accounted for 9% of the study. The investigators found that 38% of the study group had private or commercial insurance and 12.5% had no insurance. The researchers found an overall mortality rate of 6% with 16% having complications.
|
|
Investigators found higher Injury Severity Scores (ISS) among patients who were male, non-white or had a younger age. They also found white patients were more likely to sustain blunt trauma. Patients with no insurance had both decreased length of hospital stays and length of ICU stays.
Mortality increased with age, male gender, elevated ISS and shock at presentation. Non-white or African-American ethnicity and lack of insurance were linked with increased mortality. African Americans had an odds ratio of 2.1 for mortality and those who presented with shock had an odds ratio of 2.2.
“That was one of our most marked findings,” Schoenfeld said. “This may be indicative of disparity instilled in care offered to socioeconomic minorities.”
Reference:
Schoenfeld AJ. Paper #52. Presented at: the North American Spine Society Annual Meeting; Oct. 24-27, 2012; Dallas.
Disclosure: Shoenfeld has no relevant financial disclosures.
