Wall 2005

 

Year: 2005

Title: Impact of patient race on receiving head CT during blunt head injury evaluation

Country: United States

Age: All Ages

Sex: All Sexes

Population: Multiple Groups

Care Setting: Emergency Department

Clinical Setting: Neurologic

Data Level: Single Institution

Data Type: EHR

Data Source: Local data

Conclusion: No Disparities Based on Patient Race/Ethnicity

Health OutComes Reported: No

Mitigation: No

Free Text Conclusion: Non-significant trend for minorities to get fewer head CTs for trauma

Abstract: Objectives: Prior evidence suggests that physicians may alter process of care based on race/ethnicity. The objective of this study was to determine whether race/ethnicity predicts whether a patient receives computed tomography of the head (head CT) during evaluation of blunt head injury. Methods: This was a nonconcurrent cohort study set in an emergency department of a Level 1 trauma center in a university medical center. Consecutive patients presenting with blunt head injury from January 2000 to December 2000 were enrolled. The main outcome measure was whether or not a patient received head CT during evaluation of blunt head injury. Results: The unadjusted probability of receiving head CT was similar among minority (33.9%; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 30.0% to 38.1%) and non-Hispanic white patients (36.4%; 95% CI = 33.5% to 39.3%). After adjusting for important clinical and socioeconomic predictors, minority patients had a probability of receiving head CT 0.84 times as high as that of non-Hispanic whites, but this result was not statistically significant (95% CI = 0.67 to 1.09). Conclusions: Minority and non-Hispanic white patients may not have significantly different rates of receiving head CT during evaluation of blunt head injury. A multicenter prospective study is necessary to confirm these preliminary findings.