Racial Disparity in Postoperative Pain Management following Laparoscopic Salpingectomies [A68].
- Resource Type
- Abstract
- Authors
- Tsuei, Angie; Swayze, Emma; Tomassi, Rachel; Linares, Silvia
- Source
- Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2022 Supplement, Vol. 139, p20S-20S. 1p.
- Subject
- *POSTOPERATIVE pain treatment
*SALPINGECTOMY
*RACIAL inequality
*BLACK people
*LAPAROSCOPIC surgery
*MANN Whitney U Test
- Language
- ISSN
- 0029-7844
INTRODUCTION: Previous literature in obstetrics has shown that racial biases influence postpartum pain management. Little is known about how these preconceptions affect opioid prescriptions in a post-operative setting. We compared the amount of morphine milligram equivalents (MME) prescribed to patients who identify as White and Black after a laparoscopic bilateral salpingectomy. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective chart review of 399 patients who underwent outpatient laparoscopic bilateral salpingectomies at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo between 2016 and 2021. Mean MMEs prescribed after surgery and maximum pain scores were compared between patients who identify as Black and White. Two-sided t-test was used to evaluate the data (significance at alpha 0.05). Maximum pain scores were calculated with the Mann-Whitney U test. RESULTS: 25.8% (103/399) of our patient population self-identified as Black and 74.2% as White. The most commonly prescribed discharge pain medication for both groups was hydrocodone/acetaminophen, 55.6% and 51.7%, respectively. The median of max pain score (scale 0-10) of both groups was 6 (P =.63). The mean MME for White patients (n=256) was 37.6 (SD 14.7), while that of Black patients (n= 88) was 39.4 (17.4) with a P -value.3295. There was not a significant difference in pain scores by race within the first or last quartiles either. CONCLUSION: Our work serves as a model that clinical practices can utilize to evaluate current pain prescription practices and identify racial bias in pain management at an institutional level. Future studies with larger sample sizes are warranted to further explore this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]