Study: Racial Disparities Persist in ED Pain Prescriptions

By Roszak, Dennis J

White patients making pain-related trips to the emergency department are more likely to receive pain-reducing opioid analgesics, like Oxycontin or Darvon, than minorities, according to a study based on data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. Researchers analyzed 156,000 pain-related visits to the ED over 13 years. They found that whites received opioids 31 percent of the time, compared with 28 parent of ED visits by Asians, 24 percent by Hispanics and 23 percent of visits by African-Americans.

The Journal of the American Medical Association study contains limited data on the clinical interactions with individual patients, which might have shed some light on the reasons for the disparity. However, says lead researcher Mark Pletcher, M.D. “Frank racial bias is less likely or common than more subtle interactions between dortors and patients that lead to less prescribing. Minority patients may be less vocal and less empowered to complain about it.”

The American College of Emagency Physicians called the study “distorted.” In ACEP’s 2007 telephone survey of 500 chronic pain patients, 70 percent of the patients said they received the medications they needed in the ED.-Visit http://janm.ama-assn.org. and www.acep.org.

Copyright Health Forum Inc. Feb 2008

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