Less than 1 percent of emergency department patients are restrained, but Black patients face a significantly higher risk of physical restraint than non-Black patients, according to a meta-analysis published Sept. 25 in JAMA.
Black patients are 1.31 times more likely to be restrained in emergency departments than white patients are, and they're 1.27 times more likely to be restrained than all non-Black patients, according to the study.
Past research that tracked race and ethnicity alongside restraint in emergency departments has found a similar correlation, but many of these studies are based at one facility or health system. This meta-analysis included six studies to apply a national lens to the trend.
The research also found that, among four of the six studies, Hispanic patients had a lower prevalence of restraint than non-Hispanic patients.