Published in:
01-10-2020 | Original Research
Identifying Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Interhospital Transfer: an Observational Study
Published in: Journal of General Internal Medicine | Issue 10/2020
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Background
Interhospital transfer (IHT) is often performed to provide patients with specialized care. Racial/ethnic disparities in IHT have been suggested but are not well-characterized.
Objective
To evaluate the association between race/ethnicity and IHT.
Design
Cross-sectional analysis of 2016 National Inpatient Sample data.
Patients
Patients aged ≥ 18 years old with common medical diagnoses at transfer, including acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, arrhythmia, stroke, sepsis, pneumonia, and gastrointestinal bleed.
Main Measures
We performed a series of logistic regression models to estimate adjusted odds of transfer by race/ethnicity controlling for patient demographics, clinical variables, and hospital characteristics and to identify potential mediators. In secondary analyses, we estimated adjusted odds of transfer among patients at community hospitals (those more likely to transfer patients) and performed subgroup analyses by region and primary medical diagnosis.
Key Results
Of 5,774,175 weighted hospital admissions, 199,015 (4.5%) underwent IHT, including 4.7% of White patients, compared with 3.9% of Black patients and 3.8% of Hispanic patients. Black (OR 0.83, 95% CI 0.78–0.89) and Hispanic (OR 0.81, 95% CI 0.75–0.87) patients had lower crude odds of transfer compared with White patients, but this became non-significant after adjusting for hospital-level characteristics. In secondary analyses among patients hospitalized at community hospitals, Hispanic patients had lower adjusted odds of transfer (aOR 0.89, 95% CI 0.79–0.98). Disparities in IHT by race/ethnicity varied by region and medical diagnosis.
Conclusions
Black and Hispanic patients had lower odds of IHT, largely explained by a higher likelihood of being hospitalized at urban teaching hospitals. Racial/ethnic disparities in transfer were demonstrated at community hospitals, in certain geographic regions and among patients with specific diseases.