Underrepresented groups may experience disparities in care for acute traumatic injuries
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Key takeaways:
- Patients from historically underrepresented groups were less likely to have pain scores recorded than white patients.
- In addition, these patients were less likely to receive pain medication than white patients.
Patients from historically underrepresented groups were less likely to have pain scores recorded and to receive pain medication after acute traumatic injuries than white patients, according to data published in JAMA Network Open.
“Patients from racial or ethnic minority groups were less likely to have a pain score recorded, with Native American and Alaskan Natives the least likely to have a pain score recorded,” the researchers wrote in the study. “Among patients with a high pain score, patients from racial and ethnic minority groups were also significantly less likely to receive opioid or ketamine analgesia treatment, with Black patients having the lowest adjusted odds of receiving these treatments.”
Researchers evaluated 4,781,396 emergency medical services activations for patients aged 14 to 99 years (median age, 59 years) with acute traumatic injuries between 2019 and 2021. Outcome measures included pain scores and likelihood of non-oral opioid or ketamine administration. The patient sample included 57.8% white patients, 15.5% Black patients, 8.6% Hispanic or Latino patients, 1.2% Asian patients, 0.7% American Indian or Alaskan Native patients, and 0.2% Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander patients.
Researchers found patients from historically underrepresented groups had a decreased likelihood of having pain scores recorded after an acute traumatic injury compared with white patients, with the highest disparity existing for American Indian or Alaskan Native, and Asian patient groups. In addition, all historically underrepresented groups were associated with a decreased likelihood to receive opioids or ketamine analgesia treatment compared with white patients, with the largest disparities existing for Black, and American Indian or Alaskan Native patient groups.
“The causes for these racial and ethnic disparities require further research,” the researchers wrote. “Subsequent efforts to measure and improve prehospital patient-centered outcomes would benefit from national and state efforts to include race and ethnicity data collection in all future patient care reports.”
Collapse
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts