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US racial gaps in trauma interventions
Racial Disparities in Prehospital Interventions Among Injured Patients
JAMA Surgery · 2026-09-30 · Added 3 October 2026
US trauma–EMS linked cohort of 18,280 injured adults found Black patients received fewer prehospital airway interventions and intubations than White patients, and patients from disadvantaged neighbourhoods received fewer prehospital interventions overall.
- Study type
- Registry
- Design
- Retrospective registry cohort
- Participants
- 18,280 injured adults (ISS >9), 2017–2021
- Main finding
- Prehospital intubation 7.9% in White vs 4.0% in Black patients; prehospital blood 4.4% in patients of other race vs 2.3% in Black patients; socially disadvantaged neighbourhoods were less likely to receive prehospital interventions
- Caveat
- US data collected with different race/ethnicity categories to Australian standards, and confounding by injury pattern and mechanism can't be excluded
- Bottom line
- Context only
Why it matters in Australia (Low relevance). US trauma system with intervention patterns and demographic categories that don't map onto Australian practice, though the equity-audit approach itself is a useful prompt for Australian services reviewing their own data.
Learning goal
Recognise how unconscious bias and social disadvantage may influence my prehospital treatment decisions for injured patients.
More
- Topic: Trauma
- Daily scan: 3 October 2026
- Podcast: Paramedic Papers Daily, 3 October 2026
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