Equity in the diagnosis of chest pain: race and gender.
OBJECTIVE
To explore gender and racial equity in emergency room treatment of chest pain.


METHODS
Three hundred seventy-nine patient records were analyzed, taking into account effects of age, clinic, comorbid status, and insurance status.


RESULTS
Analysis of covariance and logistic regression revealed statistically significant differences between races but not between genders for time to first EKG and percent of patients receiving cardiac catheterization and echocardiography. Blacks waited longer than whites for an EKG and were less likely to receive cardiac catheterizations but more likely to receive echocardiography.


CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrates a lack of equity by race in treatment of chest pain emergencies.
Bell
P D
PD
Department of Health Information Management, School of Allied Health Sciences, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858, USA. bellp@mail.ecu.edu
Hudson
S
S
D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002637:Chest Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008485:Medical Audit; D008875:Middle Aged; D008913:Minority Groups; D009657:North Carolina / Q000453:epidemiology; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012306:Risk; D013240:Stereotyping; D013997:Time Factors; D016387:Women's Health