Research on disparities in orthopedic care has expanded in recent years, but most studies have not tested strategies to reduce inequities, according to a new review published in JBJS Open Access.
The analysis found an increase in studies examining differences in access and outcomes by race and ethnicity. However, most were retrospective and did not include community partnerships or intervention-based approaches aimed at improving care delivery.
The review was coauthored by Neeraj Patel, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, who said the field needs to move beyond identifying disparities to evaluating solutions. He called for prospective research designs that engage affected communities and test approaches in real-world settings, according to a Feb. 2 system news release.
Across orthopedic subspecialties, relatively few studies used prospective designs, qualitative methods or community engagement. Pediatric orthopedics showed similar trends, highlighting a gap between documenting inequities and generating evidence to inform change.
At Lurie Children’s, Dr. Patel is leading Red Kard, a five-year National Institutes of Health-funded study focused on improving access to knee arthroscopy for adolescents with sports-related injuries in Chicago’s predominantly Hispanic communities. The project incorporates direct community engagement to identify barriers to timely specialty care and develop and test interventions aimed at reducing delays to evaluation and surgery.
