Healthcare disparities among orthopedic trauma patients in the USA: socio-demographic factors influence the management of calcaneus fractures.

BACKGROUND: Socio-demographic factors have been suggested to contribute to differences in healthcare utilization for several elective orthopedic procedures. Reports on disparities in utilization of orthopedic trauma procedures remain limited. The purpose of our study is to assess the roles of clinical and socio-demographic variables in utilization of operative fixation of calcaneus fractures in the USA. METHODS: The National Inpatient Sample (NIS) dataset was used to analyze all patients from 2005 to 2014 with closed calcaneal fractures. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to evaluate the impact of clinical and socio-demographic variables on the utilization of surgical versus non-surgical treatment. RESULTS: A total of 17,156 patients with closed calcaneus fractures were identified. Operative treatment was rendered in 7039 patients (41.03%). A multivariate logistic regression demonstrated multiple clinical and socio-demographic factors to significantly influence the utilization of surgical treatment including age, gender, insurance status, race/ethnicity, income, diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, psychosis, drug abuse, and alcohol abuse (p <  0.05). In addition, hospital size and hospital type (teaching versus non-teaching) showed a statistically significant difference (p <  0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Besides different clinical variables, we identified several socio-demographic factors influencing the utilization of surgical treatment of calcaneus fractures in the US patient population. Further studies need to identify the specific patient-related, provider-related, and system-related factors leading to these disparities.

Re-evaluating the Weekend Effect on SAH: A Nationwide Analysis of the Association Between Mortality and Weekend Admission.

OBJECTIVE: Multiple studies have shown worse outcomes in patients admitted for medical and surgical conditions on the weekend. However, past literature analyzing this "weekend effect" on subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) found no significant increase in mortality. This study utilizes more recent data to re-evaluate the association between weekend admission and mortality of patients hospitalized for SAH. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study queried the SAH patients in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database who were discharged from 2006 through 2014 during the weekend. RESULTS: Of the 54,703 admissions for SAH identified during the study period, 14,821 (27.1%) occurred over the weekend. Patients admitted over the weekend had a mean age of 59.2 years and were most likely to be female (59.6%), to be white (62.9%), located in the south region of the USA (40.1%), and be admitted to a teaching hospital (74.4%). When compared directly to weekday admissions, patients admitted over the weekend had higher odds of in-hospital mortality (odds ratio 1.07; confidence interval 95%, 1.02-1.12). There was no significant difference shown in the rate patients get surgical clipping versus endovascular coiling (p = 0.28) or the amount of time between admission to procedure for clipping (p = 0.473) or coiling (p = 0.255) on the weekend versus a weekday. CONCLUSION: Based on our findings, the likelihood of the in-hospital mortality was higher for patients admitted over the weekend. However, the characteristics of the study, primarily observational, prevent us arriving at an accurate conclusion about why this occurs; hence, we believe it is an important starting point to consider for future research.