Black or Hispanic children with minor head trauma are not given CAT scans in emergency departments as often as white children, according to a new study. These findings imply that the black or Hispanic children are receiving substandard care; or that white children are receiving scans they do not need, thus being exposed to unnecessary radiation.
Children with the most troubling symptoms, like changes in mental functioning or signs of skull fracture, received CT scans at relatively high rates regardless of race, the researchers reported. But among children at low risk of trauma, 17 percent of non-Hispanic whites received scans while only 10 percent of black and Hispanic children did.
The study was published this month in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. Click here to read more.