Even in healthy children, black children are 3.5 times more likely to die within 30 days after surgery than their white counterparts, a new study by Nationwide Children’s Hospital found.
After reviewing the hospital records of 172,549 healthy black and white patients who underwent common surgeries from 2012 to 2017, the researchers found a dramatic disparity in postoperative risks by race, according to a study published in the journal Pediatrics on Monday.
Overall, 13.9 percent of children, birth to age 17, developed complications, including cardiac arrest, sepsis, readmission, or reoperation, within one month of surgery. But being black meant a 27 percent greater chance of developing complications.
It was also 8 percent more likely to develop serious adverse effects after surgery. And of the 36 deaths overall, 23 were black patients.
“Despite continued improvements in surgical care and the apparent rarity of postoperative mortality, racial and ethnic disparities in postoperative morbidity and mortality remain significant and persistent,” the study said.
The study cited poverty and lack of access to medical care as factors that could explain the disparity. Previous research has shown that inequalities in medical care are pronounced based on racial differences. Health care providers typically receive less attention and credit from blacks, particularly women. These biases even extend to prenatal care and affect unborn children and their families. Blacks are also more likely to die during emergency surgeries.
