Black patients are 22% more likely to die in the hospital after heart bypass surgery compared to their white counterparts, raising concerns about equity in healthcare.

Additionally, Black patients experienced longer hospital stays, averaging 11.8 days compared to 9.6 days for white patients, indicating potential disparities in care.

The study also revealed that Black patients faced a 23% higher risk of cardiac arrest after surgery and incurred hospital costs averaging $23,000 more than white patients.

These findings are preliminary and will undergo peer review before publication, but they underscore the urgent need for systemic changes in healthcare.

Dr. Vinicius Moreira, another lead author, called for immediate action from governments and healthcare systems to address these alarming disparities.

Further research is needed to understand the underlying causes of these disparities and to explore similar issues among other ethnic groups.

Lead author Dr. Niloufar Masoudi emphasized the importance of standardizing multimodal analgesia for high-risk surgical patients to improve pain management and reduce opioid dependence.

Experts stress the importance of understanding pain levels and treatment protocols to effectively address these disparities in pain management.

Dr. Dionne Ibekie advocates for educating patients about multimodal analgesia approaches to improve outcomes and reduce reliance on opioids.

Research presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY 2024 annual meeting highlights significant racial disparities in postoperative outcomes, particularly for Black patients recovering from major surgery.

The study found that Black patients were 29% less likely to receive multimodal analgesia, which combines various pain management methods, and 74% more likely to be prescribed opioid pills.

Possible contributing factors to these disparities include variations in pain reports, patient preferences, and practitioner biases related to race.