The study, published Feb. 12 in Pediatrics, analyzed a national sample of hospitalizations from the 2019 Kids’ Inpatient Database. For every 10,000 discharges, pediatric safety indicators were 331.4 for neonatal bloodstream infection; 267.5 for postoperative respiratory failure; 114.9 for postoperative sepsis; 29.5 for postoperative hemorrhage or hematoma; 5.6 for central-line bloodstream infection; 3.5 for accidental puncture or laceration; and 0.7 for iatrogenic pneumothorax.
For five of the seven safety indicators, Black and Hispanic children had significantly greater odds than white children. The greatest disparity was in postoperative sepsis for Black patients (1.55 adjusted odds ratio) and postoperative respiratory failure for Hispanic patients (1.34 adjusted odds ratio).
Medicaid-covered patients had greater disparities than privately insured patients in four of the seven indicators, with the largest disparity in postoperative sepsis (1.45 adjusted odds ratio). However, even among privately insured children, there were disparities by race.
“Disparities in safety events were identified for Black and Hispanic children, indicating a need for targeted interventions to improve patient safety in the hospital,” the study authors wrote.
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