Perioperative pain disparity in children: A call for action

Racial and ethnic disparities in both healthcare management and delivery have been extensively documented in medical literature. For example, patients from non-White minority backgrounds in the United States have been found to experience worse clinical outcomes after surgery, to receive fewer surgical procedures, and to experience worse perioperative pain management compared with patients from non-minority backgrounds. A recent NIH-ACS Symposium on Surgical Disparities Research has identified an urgent need for research aimed at addressing and understanding these disparities. The present review summarizes existing literature describing perioperative pain disparities in children in the United States, as well as highlights the paucity of research in this domain. Specifically, there is a need for randomized control trials and health services research studying pediatric perioperative pain disparities. A multidisciplinary systems-based approach would help translate findings from scientific research to clinical practice and is a crucial step to ensuring all children of diverse backgrounds receive optimal perioperative care.