A new national study finds that racial and ethnic disparities in how patients are prescribed pain medication in U.S. emergency departments have not improved despite major shifts in pain management during the opioid crisis.
Using data from more than 35,000 emergency visits for acute injuries, researchers compared prescribing patterns for White, Black, Hispanic, and other patients. They found that non-Hispanic White patients were consistently more likely to receive narcotic prescriptions than Black, Hispanic, and other racial groups, regardless of the time period studied.
During the first wave of the opioid epidemic in the early 2000s, opioid prescribing in emergency departments rose sharply. By the second wave, efforts to curb opioid use led to more prescriptions for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and other non-opioid medications. Yet the racial gap in prescribing did not change. White patients continued to receive opioids at higher rates, while Black and Hispanic patients were more likely to leave with non-opioid prescriptions or no medication at all.
The findings echo decades of research showing that minority patients are more likely to be undertreated for pain. Prior studies have documented that Black and Hispanic patients receive fewer or lower doses of opioids for conditions ranging from kidney stones to fractures, compared to White patients. The persistence of these disparities, even as national prescribing practices evolved, highlights how bias and systemic inequities remain embedded in emergency care.
See: “Racial Differences in Pain Medication Prescribed for Injury during Emergency Department Visits” (August 14, 2025)
