Investigators investigated information available for nearly 200,000 patients in a New York state database.
According to the study:
• African American patients had a 55 percent increased risk for delayed surgery.
• They were 18 percent more likely to be readmitted to the hospital within 90 days.
• They had a 12 percent higher risk of dying within one year as compared to Caucasian patients.
• Also, Medicaid patients had a 15 percent increased risk for delayed surgery.
• Patients from the most impoverished communities were at a 26 percent risk for delayed surgery, and they were at a 14 percent risk of dying within one year of hip fracture surgery.
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