Treatment in disproportionately minority hospitals is associated with an increased mortality in end-stage liver disease

Background Racial and ethnic disparities are a barrier in delivery of healthcare across the USA. Care for minority patients tends to be clustered into a small number of providers at minority hospitals, which has been associated with worse clinical outcomes in several conditions. However, the outcomes of treatment in patients with end-stage liver disease (ESLD) at predominately minority hospitals are unknown. We investigated the burden of the problem. Methods We utilized the nationwide in-patient sample (NIS) to conduct a retrospective nationwide cohort analysis. All patients>18 years of age admitted with ESLD were included in the analysis. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to study the mortality rate among patients with ESLD treated at minority hospitals compared to nonminority hospitals. Results A total of 53 281 467 hospitalizations from the 2008 to 2014 NIS were analyzed. There were 163 470 patients with ESLD that met inclusion criteria. In-hospital mortality rates for all races were 8.0 and 8.1% in black and Hispanic minority hospitals, respectively, compared to 7.3% in nonminority hospitals (P 
Source: European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology - Category: Gastroenterology Tags: Original Articles: Hepatology Source Type: research