Racial Disparities in the Use of Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy Still Exist!

Abstract

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Racial Disparities in Access and Outcomes of Cholecystectomy in the United States

“…In an early study that compared the use of laparoscopy between black patients and white patients within the Veterans Affairs medical centers from 1992 to 1995, black patients were approximately 25 per cent less likely than white patients to undergo a laparoscopic rather than open cholecystectomy. 5 In a subsequent study using the 2005 to 2010 Nationwide 6 In our study, however, there was no difference in the use of laparoscopy between non-white and white patients on adjusted analysis. Although our study design was different (we compared whites to everyone else and not whites to blacks), our results using more recent data suggest that the racial disparity in access to laparoscopic cholecystectomy may be disappearing.…”

“…3,4 Previous studies have shown that black patients, compared with white patients, were significantly less likely to undergo a laparoscopic rather than open cholecystectomy. 5,6 Among patients with gallstone pancreatitis, black and Asian patients were less likely to undergo cholecystectomy compared with risk-adjusted white patients. 7 However, there is a paucity of data about how race affects the surgical outcomes of gallbladder disease.…”