Social determinants of trauma care: Associations of race, insurance status, and place on opioid prescriptions, postdischarge referrals, and mortality

The objective of this study was to evaluate the unique contributions of race, health insurance, community distress, and rurality/urbanicity on trauma outcomes after carefully controlling for specific injury-related risk factors. METHODS All adult (age, ≥18 years) trauma patients admitted to a single Level I trauma center with a statewide, largely rural, catchment area from January 2010 to December 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. Primary outcomes were mortality, rehabilitation referral, and receipt of opioids in the emergency department. Demographic, socioeconomic, and injury characteristics as well as indicators of community distress and rurality based on home address were abstracted from a trauma registry database. RESULTS Analyses revealed that Black patients (n = 13,073) were younger, more likely to be male, more likely to suffer penetrating injuries, and more likely to suffer assault-based injuries compared with White patients (n = 10,946; all p
Source: The Journal of Trauma: Injury, Infection, and Critical Care - Category: Orthopaedics Tags: INDEPENDENT SUBMISSION Source Type: research