The study reflects concerns that racial and ethnic minority groups appeared to be at higher risk of receiving inadequate treatment for pain in the emergency department.
Dr. Mark J. Pletcherof the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues based their conclusions on 13 years of data from The National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.
Opioid analgesic was prescribed at 29 percent of pain-related visits. This proportion increased during the study period, from 23 percent in 1993 to 37 percent in 2005.
The study found that opioid prescribing was more likely for pain-related visits made by whites (31 percent) than by blacks (23 percent), Hispanics (24 percent), or Asians/others (28 percent).
Blacks were prescribed opiates at lower rates than any other race/ethnicity group for almost every type of pain visit.
Compared with white patients, black patients were 34 percent less likely to receive an opioid prescription; Hispanic patients, 33 percent less likely; and Asian/other patients, 21 percent less likely.
