A study conducted by Cedars-Sinai has revealed significant racial and ethnic disparities in pain management for women postpartum. The research, which included 18,000 women, found that these inequities persisted even among those reporting the highest levels of pain.
The study examined both opioid and non-opioid pain medications to determine if lower opioid doses, previously reported in some studies, could be attributed to patients receiving alternative drugs for their discomfort.
“Even after adjusting our analysis to include non-opioid medications, Black and Hispanic patients who reported the highest pain scores received lower doses of opioid-containing medication. The fact that they also received non-opioid drugs could not explain the lower opioid treatment they received when compared with white patients,” explained Naomi Greene, PhD, principal investigator of the study and an assistant professor of Research in Obstetrics and Gynecology.
