PHILADELPHIA, PA – Recent research findings suggest a racial bias—Black patients received less pain relief and equitable treatment, including being less likely to be prescribed multimodal analgesia, and instead are given oral opiates after surgery, reported CNN in a story recently.
In an effort to limit the prescription of oral opiates post-surgery, physicians have switched to alternative pain management methods like multimodal analgesia— “a method of pain management that uses multiple types of medications to reduce pain,” said CNN.
A study, presented at the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ (ASA) annual meeting, concluded that “post-surgery Black patients were more likely to be prescribed oral opioids” as an alternative to multimodal analgesia compared to white patients, noted CNN.
The study included data from patients recovering from abdominal or thoracic surgeries. Among 482 Black patients and 2,460 white patients, “Black patients were about 74 percent more likely” to receive opiates as opposed to white patients, reported CNN.
CNN said, in a similar study conducted by Stanford, research suggested, “Black patients were significantly less likely to receive painkillers than white patients” adding to the racial disparities in pain management.
Dr. Eli Carillo, Stanford emergency physician, stated pain management is important because “it affects not only quality of life” but also because “it has a direct effect on people’s livelihood and their ability to function.”
These new findings suggest “possible biases in treatment decisions” and “points to a need for systematic changes in medicine” to ensure “equitable healthcare for all,” stated Dr. Dionne Ibekie, an anesthesiologist in central Illinois, according to CNN.
Aside from multimodal analgesia, a study presented at the ASA suggested that Black and Brown patients were less likely to receive helicopter transport in a timely manner.
Researchers from Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio and Montefiore Medical Center in New York said “these disparities have not begun to narrow over time… (and) we must ensure that use of rapid and life-saving care” isn’t influenced by race and ethnicity.
