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The following is a summary of “Racial disparities in police transportation of trauma patients over time,” published in the January 2025 issue of Emergency Medicine by Jarvis et al.
Racial disparities in police transport (PT) of trauma cases have been observed, but the impact on injury characteristics and outcomes remains unexplored.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to examine the temporal trends, injury patterns, and outcomes of individuals transported by police across racial groups.
They analyzed adult trauma cases admitted to 6 Level I-II trauma centers in Colorado, Texas, and Kansas (1/1/16-7/15/22). Transfer cases and individuals of other/unknown races were excluded. Participants were grouped by race: non-Hispanic (NH) White, Black, or Hispanic. The primary outcome was PT, with significance set at α<0.05. Among PT cases, outcomes included length of stay (LOS) and discharge disposition.
The results showed that among 46,581 individuals (77% NH White, 17% Hispanic, 5% Black), PT was significantly higher for Hispanic (0.9%), and Black (0.4%) individuals compared to NH White (0.1%), P <0.01. Falls were more frequent in Hispanic PT cases than in Black or NH White PT cases, P <0.01, while assaults were higher among Black PT cases than the other groups, P =0.03. Over time, NH White PT proportions remained stable (moderate r2= 0.4), Black PTs showed a negative quadratic trend peaking in 2019 (moderate r2 = 0.3), and Hispanic PTs demonstrated a positive quadratic trend with a drop in 2019 (strong r2= 0.7). No differences were found in HLOS between groups. Hispanic and Black PT cases were discharged to jail more often (P =0.001) and homeless often (P =0.04) than NH White PT cases, P =0.01, with other discharge dispositions showing no significant differences.
Investigators concluded that Hispanic and Black individuals transported by police were discharged to jail more often than NH White individuals, with Hispanic transports increasing and Black transports decreasing since 2019.
Source: jem-journal.com/article/S0736-4679(24)00398-6/abstract
