Updated at 6:49 a.m., Tuesday, February 5, 2008
UH med school dean co-authors study on race and care
Advertiser Staff
A study using data from Hawai'i and 21 other states finds Asian and African-American patients have a higher risk of dying than Caucasians do after they are injured and admitted to hospitals.The results are reported in "Racial Disparities in Mortality Among Adults Hospitalized After Injury," co-written by newly appointed dean of the John A. Burns School of Medicine, Dr. Jerris Hedges. It appears in the February 2008 issue of Medical Care, a national journal.
The majority of the patients suffered injuries to their head, legs, chest, spleen or liver. Caucasian patients were likely to die in the hospital following a significant injury at a rate of 1.5 percent, according to the report. Asians (including Pacific Islanders) and African-Americans died at the higher rates, of 2.0 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.
Hedges, co-author of the injuries study in Medical Care, is an emergency medicine specialist who has written several books, including the popular textbook "Clinical Procedures in Emergency Medicine."
