Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Emergency Department Analgesic Prescription

J.H. Tamayo-Sarver, S.W. Hinze, R.K. Cydulka and D.W. Baker

American Journal of Public Health, 2003, vol. 93, issue 12, 2067-2073

Abstract: Objectives. We examined racial and ethnic disparities in analgesic prescription among a national sample of emergency department patients. Methods. We analyzed Black, Latino, and White patients in the 1997-1999 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys to compare prescription of any analgesics and opioid analgesics by race/ethnicity. Results. For any analgesic, no association was found between race and prescription; opioids, however, were less likely to be prescribed to Blacks than to Whites with migraines and back pain, though race was not significant for patients with long bone fracture. Differences in opioid use between Latinos and Whites with the same conditions were less and nonsignificant. Conclusions. Physicians were less likely to prescribe opioids to Blacks; this disparity appears greatest for conditions with fewer objective findings (e.g., migraine).

Date: 2003
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:2003:93:12:2067-2073_7

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().