Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Use of Helicopter Transport After Severe Trauma in the US

In the US, traumatic injuries are a leading cause of mortality across all age groups. Patients with severe trauma often require time-sensitive, specialized medical care to reduce mortality; air transport is associated with improved survival in many cases. However, it is unknown whether the provision of and access to air transport are influenced by factors extrinsic to medical needs, such as race or ethnicity.

To examine the current trends of racial and ethnic disparities in air transport use for patients who sustain severe trauma.

This population-based cohort study used data from the National Trauma Data Bank from 2016 to 2022. Participants were patients older than 15 years who sustained a severe injury and required an urgent surgical procedure or intensive care unit (ICU) admission at level I or II trauma centers with helicopter service.

Severe injury requiring treatment at a level I or II trauma center.

The primary mode of transport, categorized as either helicopter ambulance or ground ambulance. A multifaceted approach was used to narrow the observed racial and ethnic disparities in helicopter deployment. The secondary outcome was mortality after helicopter transport vs ground ambulance transport.

Data were included for 341 286 patients at 458 level I or II trauma centers with helicopter service. Their mean (SD) age was 47 (20) years; 243 936 patients (71.6%) were male and 96 633 (28.4%) female. Asian individuals were less likely to receive helicopter transport compared with White individuals (6.8% vs 21.8%; aRR, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.30-0.48; P < .001), driven by lower use for Asian patients in teaching hospitals (aRR, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.21-0.40; P < .001) and level I trauma centers (aRR, 0.33; 95% CI, 0.24-0.44; P < .001). In addition, Black patients were less likely to receive helicopter transport (8.7% vs 21.8%; aRR, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.36-0.49; P < .001), particularly in teaching hospitals (aRR, 0.41; 95% CI, 0.33-0.50; P < .001) and level I trauma centers (aRR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.34-0.49; P < .001). A similar but less pronounced disparity was noted for Hispanic patients. Helicopter transport was associated with a lower mortality risk compared with ground transport (37.7% vs 42.6%; adjusted relative risk [aRR], 0.87; 95% CI, 0.85-0.89; P < .001).

This study found that racial and ethnic minority patients, particularly Asian and Black patients, and notably those treated at level I teaching hospitals were less likely to receive airlift services compared with White patients. The current expansion of helicopter emergency medical services has yet to translate into equitable care for patients of all races and ethnicities.