Impact of patient race on receiving head CT during blunt head injury evaluation.
OBJECTIVE
Prior evidence suggests that physicians may alter process of care based on race/ethnicity. The objective of this study was to determine whether race/ethnicity predicts whether a patient receives computed tomography of the head (head CT) during evaluation of blunt head injury.


METHODS
This was a nonconcurrent cohort study set in an emergency department of a Level 1 trauma center in a university medical center. Consecutive patients presenting with blunt head injury from January 2000 to December 2000 were enrolled. The main outcome measure was whether or not a patient received head CT during evaluation of blunt head injury.


RESULTS
The unadjusted probability of receiving head CT was similar among minority (33.9%; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 30.0% to 38.1%) and non-Hispanic white patients (36.4%; 95% CI = 33.5% to 39.3%). After adjusting for important clinical and socioeconomic predictors, minority patients had a probability of receiving head CT 0.84 times as high as that of non-Hispanic whites, but this result was not statistically significant (95% CI = 0.67 to 1.09).


CONCLUSIONS
Minority and non-Hispanic white patients may not have significantly different rates of receiving head CT during evaluation of blunt head injury. A multicenter prospective study is necessary to confirm these preliminary findings.
Wall
Stephen P
SP
UCLA Emergency Medicine Center, USA. stephen.wall@nbhn.net
Ha
Evelyn S
ES
Habicht
Michael E R
ME
Wawda
Haneefa
H
Merchant
Guy L
GL
Ettner
Susan L
SL
Mower
William R
WR
D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001213:Asian / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D015600:Glasgow Coma Scale; D016489:Head Injuries, Closed / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000208:ethnology*; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016015:Logistic Models; D015141:Los Angeles / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D011859:Radiography; D012306:Risk; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors