Black patients are less likely to receive effective pain medications following an operation, according to a new study.
Presented at an event held by the American Society of Anesthesiologists, according to the study, Black patients are more likely to receive opioids following surgery as opposed to multimodal analgesia. Multimodal analgesia helps reduce pain using four different types of pain management and helps eliminate the use of opioids which are considered to be addictive drugs.
The study analyzed cases of patients treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital from 2016 to 2021. Of these participants, 482 Black adults and 2,460 white adults were included.
Overall, Black patients were 74% more likely to receive opioids as treatment following their operation and 29% less likely to receive multimodal analgesia, particularly when it comes to receiving four types of treatment using multimodal analgesia.
“It should be standard practice, especially in high-risk surgical patients,” said lead author Niloufar Masoudi, M.D., MPH, per a statement. “We strive to provide patients the most effective pain control while using fewer opioids. Although the optimal number of drug combinations for multimodal analgesia is unknown, using four different types of pain medication vs. two or three may better help to achieve this goal.”
Previous studies have pointed to notable differences in pain assessments when it comes to Black patients and white patients.
In a 2022 study released in the scientific journal JAMA Network Open, researchers highlighted a variety of perceived biases that contributed to more discrimination with “worse pain outcomes.” Physician implicit biases included the false beliefs that Black patients had a higher threshhold for pain, thicker skin and generally felt less pain than white patients do.
As a result, the physicians who were in charge of approximately 1,177 Black and white adults who took part in the experiment tended to give the wrong treatment plans to Black patients.
To help remedy and ensure that the false beliefs aren’t being perpetuated, the researchers suggested amendments to medical school curricula, eliminating any myths about perceived biological differences when it comes to pain.
“A focus on improving health equity through research and clinical care can be achieved by implementing policies that foster a culture of inclusivity, examining the role of social determinants of health on outcomes, prioritizing diversity in medical school admissions and research faculty hiring, and implementing antiracism strategies that actively engage individuals in recognizing and addressing their biases in research and medicine,” said researchers in their discussion.
