• Henry W Ortega, Vander VeldenHeidiH, Chia-Wei Lin, and Samuel Reid.
• Emergency Services, Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA. Henry.ortega@childrensmn.org
• Pediatr Emerg Care. 2013 Apr 1; 29 (4): 492-7.

BackgroundInadequate treatment of painful conditions in children is a significant and complex problem. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of race/ethnicity on the provision of analgesic medicines at discharge in children treated emergently for a long-bone fracture.MethodsA retrospective review of all patients during a 1-year period with a long-bone fracture treated in 2 urban pediatric emergency departments was performed.ResultsEight hundred seventy-eight patients who met our inclusion criteria were identified. Sixty percent of patients received a prescription for an opioid-containing medicine, and 19% received a prescription for an over-the-counter analgesic medicine at emergency department discharge. Patients identified as African American, non-Hispanic, biracial, and Hispanic/Latino had significantly lower rates of opioid analgesic prescriptions when compared with other ethnic groups. White, non-Hispanic patients had lower rates of over-the-counter analgesic medicine prescriptions provided at discharge. Patients identified as white, non-Hispanic had a higher percentage of fractures that required reduction in the emergency department when compared with other ethnic groups.ConclusionsRace/ethnicity is associated with different analgesic prescription patterns in children treated in the emergency department for a long-bone fracture.

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