A review of racial/ethnic disparities in pediatric trauma care, treatment and outcomes

Health disparities are an increasingly researched topic in the United States. Evidence of disparities found across the spectrum of health care includes pediatric patients. The purpose of this review is to comprehensively summarize disparities among pediatric trauma patients, evaluating both emergency department and hospital treatment and outcomes. Multiple studies describe disparities in a variety of areas of trauma care including emergency department, radiology, surgery, abuse evaluation, and discharge rehabilitation. More concerning, multiple studies report disparities in length of stay, disability, recidivism, and mortality. This review also highlights several gaps in disparity research including specialty care, inclusion of all racial/ethnic groups, and geographic differences. Few of the reviewed studies described disparity interventions; however, research regarding abuse evaluations showed that care guidelines diminished disparity. Trauma care, a routinized patient service, is subject to existing care guidelines and quality improvement programs, and may be the ideal health care setting for disparity intervention. Study Type Review Level of Evidence Level V Emails: lapla055@umn.edu, hessx006@umn.edu The authors do not have any conflicts of interest to disclose. No funding was received for this review. Corresponding Author: Donavon J. Hess, MD, PhD Department of Surgery University of Minnesota 2450 Riverside Ave S. MB 505 Phone 612 625-3609 Fax 312 624-6969. hessx006@umn.edu © 2018 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.

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