Anyone who has experienced severe pain or pain that becomes debilitating and chronic knows that pain medications can play an important role in recuperating and returning to a normal life. But concerns about narcotic abuse, also a serious health problem in the US, cause many physicians to be reluctant about prescribing these types of medications.
And a new study by the University of Rochester Medical Center shows that there is an additional set of issues at work. If you’re white and affluent, you are more likely to receive opioid drugs for pain relief than if you are black, Hispanic, poor, or have less education, according to the URMC study, which was recently reported in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
Analyzing data of more than 50,000 visits to about 1,400 emergency room departments showed that medications like Vicodin, OxyContin, and Percocet were less likely to be prescribed to patients of color And they were less likely to be prescribed to people who live in poor neighborhoods compared to people who live in more affluent areas.
Researchers already knew that racial and ethnic disparities existed, but the URMC study may be the first that discovered socioeconomic status, such as poverty, income, and education levels, also determine who receives opioid pain prescriptions.
This article appears in Jul 17-23, 2013.
I’ll take “Proof That Stereotypes Are Alive and Well in the 21st Century” for $500 Alex.
I’m wondering if this study’s conclusions surprised anyone. As with law enforcement, the assumption is that people in poor communities do more drugs than those in wealthier communities. This assumption is invalid, but has left us with a legacy of disparate law enforcement, as well as pain treatment, access to banking, and who knows what all else…
This a complicated process and the study findings are minimal – look at the numbers.
The additional complication (and explanation) embedded here is that in general we are better able to relate to and empathize with people of similar backgrounds. Thus in general people tend to try to find a general practitioner who matches up with them. Thus some women want a lady doctor. I think they could find similar findings along different lines. A study looking at obese patients would likely find that heavy practitioners were more sensitive to their needs than were light ones.
Such general biases are often unconscious and largely separate from the much hyped topic of racism. Is it racist if an Asian woman tends to be more attracted to Asian males?
The complication continues with the mixed blessing. Do you really want to be in the group that has a slightly larger chance of getting an ovoid prescription (with the associated dangers)?