Trauma Healthcare Procedures for Afghan Migrants in Iran: A Matched Secondary Case-Control Study of Jahrom City Trauma Registry
Keywords:
Racal discrimination, Racism, Trauma, healthcare accessAbstract
Background: Access to healthcare should be equal for all society members irrespective of the racial background. This research compared healthcare utilization patterns between Irani and Afghan populations in the case of trauma care.
Methods: This Case-control study investigated ethnic disparities in the frequency of healthcare procedures among trauma cases in Jahrom city, in 2022, by analyzing data from the trauma registry. Case-control matching of Afghan cases was performed with Iranian with pairing based on the severity of the trauma, assuming similar traumas in severity having similar patterns of procedures. Data of demographics, clinical characteristics, Abbreviated Injury Score (AIS) categories, Injury severity score (ISS), hospitalization lengths, and costs were analyzed between the cases and controls. Regression analysis was conducted with adjusting for significant confounders for an association of differences in the number of medical procedures between study groups. Results: The analysis revealed that being Afghan is linked to a statistically significant increase in the number of radiographs taken and Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma (FAST) procedures performed (P<0.05). However, being Afghan does not significantly affect the count of various other medical procedures such as echocardiography, CT scans, MR angiography, and various surgeries including tendon or ligament reconstruction surgeries, muscle reconstruction surgery, close reduction surgery, spinal surgery, fixations, or any surgery overall (P>0.05).
Conclusion: Our analyses came to the conclusion that Afghan patients are not experiencing any discrimination in access to healthcare for trauma compared to Iranian people with similar injuries.
Keywords: Racal discrimination, Racism, Trauma, healthcare access
Declarations:
Funding:
None.
Conflicts of interest:
None.
Acknowledgments
None.
Ethical considerations
This was a secondary study that kept the identity of the patients confidential and does not require Institutional review board approval, while registry committee approved our access to data.
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