Your colleague tells you anecdotally that African American patients seem to be at higher risk of adverse events perioperatively compared to their white peers. According to a recent study of pediatric surgical patients, which of the following BEST describes the risks for apparently healthy African American children compared with white children undergoing inpatient surgery?
The current literature provides evidence of ethnic and racial disparities in health care, with poorer outcomes in African American versus white populations. A commonly held tenet is that African American patients have increased preoperative comorbidities compared to their white peers that would explain the poorer outcomes, as healthy patients are generally expected to have a low risk of complications after surgical procedures. The authors of a recent study aimed to determine the association between race and postoperative mortality and morbidity rates in apparently healthy pediatric patients undergoing surgery. The primary outcome was the 30-day in-hospital postoperative...
