Comparison of Emergency Room Use Between African-American and Caucasian Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Patients

Aim: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic condition becoming increasingly prevalent in the African-American (AA) population. We aimed to compare ED utilization between AA and non-Hispanic Caucasian (C) IBD patients in a large tertiary care referral center. Material and Methods: A retrospective chart view was performed on IBD patients seen in the Emory University Hospital ED after Institutional Review Board approval. Results: Data from 391 patients including 244 C patients and 147 AA patients was available for analysis. There were more AA patients who had ≥ 2 ED visits compared to C patients. When assessing the number of ED visits based on whether the visits were IBD-related vs non-IBD related, more AA patients had ≥ 2 visits for both types of visits. In the multivariable logistic regression analysis, factors associated with IBD related visits included younger age, AA race, male sex, a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis, being a current patient in the Emory GI clinic, and prior history of IBD-related surgery. Conclusion: Our study reveals that AA IBD patients seen in the ED more individuals visited the ED more than once for both IBD and non-IBD related issues compared to C IBD patients.