• Marlin Wayne Causey, Derek McVay, Quinton Hatch, Eric Johnson, Justin A Maykel, Brad Champagne, and Scott R Steele.
• Department of Surgery, Madigan Army Medical Center, Ft. Lewis, WA, USA.
• Am. J. Surg. 2013 Aug 1;206(2):172-9.

BackgroundDespite significant evolutions in health care, outcome discrepancies exist among demographic cohorts. We sought to determine the impact of race on emergency surgery outcomes.MethodsThis is a retrospective review of the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database (2005 through 2009) for all patients aged ≥16 years undergoing emergency abdominal surgery. Primary outcomes included morbidity and mortality.ResultsWe identified 75,280 patients (mean age 48.2 ± 19.9 years, 51.7% female; 79% white, 9.9% black, 5.0% Hispanic, 3.7% Asian, 1.3% American Indian or Alaskan, .2% Pacific Islander). Annual rates of emergency operations ranged from 7.3% to 8.5% (P = .22). The overall complication (18.6%) and mortality rate (4.6%) was highest in the black population (24.3%, 5.3%) followed by whites (18.7%, 4.6%), with the lowest rate in Hispanic (11.7%, 1.8%) and Pacific Islander populations (10.2%, 1.8%; P < .001). Compared with whites, blacks had a 1.25-fold (1.17 to 1.34; P < .001) increased risk of complications, but similar mortality (P = .168). When combining minorities, overall complications were 1.059-fold (1.004 to 1.12; P = .034) higher, however, mortality was reduced 1.7-fold (1.07 to 1.34; P = .001).ConclusionsFollowing emergency abdominal surgery, minority race is independently associated with increased complications and reduced mortality.Published by Elsevier Inc.

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