Black patients are less likely than White patients with a non-specific diagnosis of interest to receive related diagnostic testing in the ED, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open. Michael I. Ellenbogen, MD, and colleagues used a previously validated diagnostic intensity index to assess differences in diagnostic testing rates by race and ethnicity. The study included ED discharges, hospital observation stays, and hospital admissions using administrative claims among EDs and acute care hospitals in Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, and New Jersey from 2016 to 2018. Researchers paired non-specific principal discharge diagnoses (nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, chest pain, and syncope) with related diagnostic tests to estimate rates of non-diagnostic testing. Most (80.6%) of the 3,683,055 encounters in the study were ED discharges. Compared with White patients, Black patients discharged with a diagnosis of interest had an adjusted odds ratio of 0.74 for having related diagnostic testing. Other racial or ethnic disparities of a similar magnitude were not observed.
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