A retrospective evaluation of the impact of patient ethnicity on the use of epidural analgesia or blood transfusions in children undergoing major oncologic surgery

• Published in: Perioperative medicine (London) 2019-06, Vol.8 (1), p.6-6, Article 6
• Main Authors: Owusu-Agyemang, Pascal, Cata, Juan P, Kapoor, Ravish, Van Meter, Antoinette, Zavala, Acsa M, Williams, Uduak U, Tsai, January Y, Feng, Lei, Hayes-Jordan, Andrea
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abdomen; Age; Analgesia; Anesthesia; Blood transfusion; Blood transfusions; Body mass index; Chemotherapy; Children; Comparative analysis; Cultural differences; Demographic aspects; Epidural; Epidural anesthesia; Ethnicity; Health aspects; Hemoglobin; Hispanic Americans; Laboratories; Narcotics; Pain; Patient outcomes; Patients; Pediatric anesthesia; Pediatric pharmacology; Pediatric research; Pediatrics; Perioperative care; Race; Socioeconomic factors; Standard deviation; Surgery; Transfusion; Tumor removal; Tumors
• ISSN: 2047-0525; 2047-0525
• DOI: 10.1186/s13741-019-0117-z

The impact of patient ethnicity on healthcare delivery is well documented. In this study of children who had undergone open abdominal or pelvic surgery for tumor resection, we sought to compare the use of epidural analgesia or intraoperative blood transfusions between Caucasian and non-Caucasian children. A retrospective study of 139 children was performed. Logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association between the specified perioperative factors and patient ethnicity. The average age (standard deviation) was 11 years (± 5), 50% were female, and 58% were Caucasian. Compared to Caucasian children, non-Caucasian children were younger (difference in mean, - 2.6 years; 95% confidence interval [- 4.3, - 0.9],  = 0.003), underwent shorter procedures (difference in mean anesthesia minutes, - 134; 95% confidence interval [-  230, - 39],  = 0.006), and had a lower proportion of patients who received epidural analgesia (66% versus 81%,  = 0.042) or blood transfusions (48% versus 65%,  = 0.039). In the adjusted model, patient ethnicity was not associated with the receipt of epidural analgesia (odds ratio 0.53, 95% confidence interval [0.23, 1.21],  = 0.132) or blood transfusions (odds ratio 0.77, 95% confidence interval [0.29, 2.04],  = 0.600). The use of epidural analgesia or blood transfusions was associated with abnormal coagulation factors (odds ratio 0.32, 95% confidence interval [0.14, 0.71],  = 0.005) and the duration of surgery (odds ratio 1.007, 95% confidence interval [1.005, 1.009],