@article{ref1,
title="Impact of patient race on receiving head CT during blunt head injury evaluation",
journal="Academic emergency medicine",
year="2005",
author="Wall, Stephen P. and Ha, Evelyn S. and Habicht, Michael E. R. and Wawda, Haneefa and Merchant, Guy L. and Ettner, Susan L. and Mower, W. R.",
volume="12",
number="9",
pages="862-868",
abstract="OBJECTIVES: Prior evidence suggests that physicians may alter process of care based on race/ethnicity. The objective of this study was to determine whether race/ethnicity predicts whether a patient receives computed tomography of the head (head CT) during evaluation of blunt head injury. METHODS: This was a nonconcurrent cohort study set in an emergency department of a Level 1 trauma center in a university medical center. Consecutive patients presenting with blunt head injury from January 2000 to December 2000 were enrolled. The main outcome measure was whether or not a patient received head CT during evaluation of blunt head injury. RESULTS: The unadjusted probability of receiving head CT was similar among minority (33.9%; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 30.0% to 38.1%) and non-Hispanic white patients (36.4%; 95% CI = 33.5% to 39.3%). After adjusting for important clinical and socioeconomic predictors, minority patients had a probability of receiving head CT 0.84 times as high as that of non-Hispanic whites, but this result was not statistically significant (95% CI = 0.67 to 1.09). CONCLUSIONS: Minority and non-Hispanic white patients may not have significantly different rates of receiving head CT during evaluation of blunt head injury. A multicenter prospective study is necessary to confirm these preliminary findings.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1069-6563",
doi="10.1197/j.aem.2005.05.003",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1197/j.aem.2005.05.003"
}