• Alexandra Joice Berger, Ye Wang, Courtney Rowe, Benjamin Chung, Steven Chang, and George Haleblian.
• Division of Urologic Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
• Am J Emerg Med. 2021 Jan 1; 39: 71-74.

IntroductionWe sought quantify racial disparities in use of analgesia amongst patients seen in Emergency Departments for renal colic.MethodsWe identified all individuals presenting to the Emergency Department with urolithiasis from 2003 to 2015 in the nationally representative Premier Hospital Database. We included patients discharged in ≤1 day and excluded those with chronic pain or renal insufficiency. We assessed the relationship between race/ethnicity and opioid dosage in morphine milligram equivalents (MME), and ketorolac, through multivariable regression models adjusting for patient and hospital characteristics.ResultsThe cohort was 266,210 patients, comprised of White (84%), Black (6%) and Hispanic (10%) individuals. Median opioid dosage was 20 MME and 55.5% received ketorolac. Our adjusted model showed Whites had highest median MME (20 mg) with Blacks (-3.3 mg [95% CI: -4.6 mg to -2.1 mg]) and Hispanics (-6.0 mg [95% CI: -6.9 mg to -5.1 mg]) receiving less. Blacks were less likely to receive ketorolac (OR: 0.72, 95% CI: 0.62-0.84) while there was no difference between Whites and Hispanics.ConclusionsBlack and Hispanic patients in American Emergency Departments with acute renal colic receive less opioid medication than White patients; Black patients are also less likely to receive ketorolac.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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