Earlier this year, a report from the African American Research Collaborative found over half of healthcare workers in the United States have witnessed some form of racism towards patients. A new study led by Johns Hopkins University has found a medical disparity that may be a result of this prejudice towards Black patients: a large gap in the rate Black and White patients receive diagnostic imaging testing in emergency department.
The authors examined a sample of 3.6 million patient emergency room encounters, focusing on those who were discharged the same day after reporting symptoms that commonly lead to diagnostic imaging, such as nausea or vomiting, abdominal or chest pain, and fainting. Despite reporting the same symptoms, Black patients were significantly less likely to receive diagnostic imaging than White patients. When the authors controlled their study for patients who were covered under Medicaid, Black patients were still significantly less likely to receive a diagnostic imaging test.
In their conclusion, the authors note that they also observed White patients “had higher rates of nondiagnostic testing, suggesting higher levels of testing overuse. Although Black patients were subjected to less test overuse, this may have come at a risk of undertesting and missed diagnoses.” They stress that future research is needed to better understand the cause of this racial disparity and if it is associated with instances of missed diagnoses.
