Disparities Seen in Prehospital Pain Care of Traumatic Injuries

THURSDAY, Oct. 19, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Non-White patients have a lower likelihood of having pain scores reported and of receiving analgesia during prehospital care for traumatic injuries, according to a study published online Oct. 17 in JAMA Network Open.

Dalton C. Brunson, from Stanford University in California, and colleagues evaluated whether race and ethnicity are associated with either disparate recording of pain scores or administration of analgesia among patients with traumatic injuries treated by emergency medical services. The analysis included more than 4.78 million U.S. patients (aged 14 to 99 years) treated and transported by an advanced life support unit (2019 to 2021).

The researchers found that race and ethnicity were associated with the likelihood of having a pain score recorded. American Indian and Alaskan Native patients had the lowest adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of having a pain score recorded (aOR, 0.74) compared with White patients. For patients with a high pain score recorded (between 7 and 10 out of 10), Black patients were less likely to receive opioid or ketamine analgesia compared with White patients (aOR, 0.53), despite having a pain score recorded almost as frequently as White patients.

"These results suggest that patients from racial and ethnic minority groups with acute traumatic injuries do not have their pain treated equitably in the prehospital setting," the authors write.

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