Black Children Get Less Pain Meds Than White Children In ER

Monika K. Goyal, M.D., from the Children’s National Health System in Washington, D.C., and colleagues examined racial differences in analgesia administration among children diagnosed as having appendicitis. Researchers analyzed data which had been collected over a time period from 2003 to 2010 and had covered about 900,000 children.

Researchers observing the ER also noticed that only half the children who came in with a lot of pain in cases such as appendicitis, received painkillers, despite there being strong recommendations for cases of appendicitis.

Black children with moderate pain were less likely to receive any pain medication than white patients, and black patients with severe pain were less likely to receive opioids than white patients.

As per a recent news report it has been discovered that black children that are admitted in emergency rooms get less pain medication as compared to white children.

She went on to add that “Pain management with opioids is one of the mainstays of treatment”. Forty-one percent of all child patients got an opiod drug, while a slim 12 percent of black children were given an opioid drug for pain.

According to NBC News, researchers decided to study appendicitis because it is largely acknowledged to be a medical condition which merits pain medication.

Dr. Eric W. Fleegler, health expert from Boston Children’s Hospital and the Harvard Medical School, gave a statement of his own stressing that some of the data the research team worked with is older than a decade.

Researchers emphasize that painkillers are strongly recommended for inflammation of the appendix, despite some fears of opioids masking symptoms or children becoming dependent. “Typically, however, analgesics are prescribed for appendicitis”, said Dr. Neil Schechter in a commentary published in JAMA Pediatrics.

What’s to blame? Probably a combination of an unwarranted fear of opioids such as morphine and fentanyl, combined with unconscious bias against African-American kids, experts said.

“Really understanding racial disparities in healthcare is extremely important”, Goyal said, via Medical Daily.

“Race, socioeconomic status and insurance coverage should not affect pain management for appendicitis in the emergency room”, Goyal added.

National benchmarks can help hospitals gauge how they are doing compared to others around the country, Fleegler and Schechter said in their email.