Healthy Black children have higher odds of dying post-surgery than white kids

Healthy Black children have much higher odds of dying after having surgery than their white peers, according to a new retrospective study. Structural racism contributes to a higher rate of underlying conditions among adult Black patients, making them likelier to have worse post-surgical outcomes. Scientists looked at data from almost 173,000 apparently healthy kids who underwent inpatient operations from 2012-2017, and found Black children were nearly 3.5 times more likely to die in the month following surgery than white children, even though the actual numbers were low (13 Black children died versus 23 white kids). Nearly 17% of Black children —and 14% of white children — developed complications post-surgery. The findings don't causally link racial group and developing complications, but a related editorial says they highlight the need to address racism and other biases in medicine.