Parathyroidectomy outcomes for Asians in the United States: Implications for resident surgical education

INTRODUCTION: Outcomes for Asian patients in the United States are often overlooked in the surgical literature. Surgical education includes little emphasis on reporting outcomes for Asian patients in the United States. Our null hypothesis (H(0)) is that there is no difference in surgical complications following parathyroid surgery between Asians and all other ethnicities in the United States. Our alternate hypothesis (H(1)) is that Asians have more incidences of certain complications (possibly due to culture and language barriers). METHODS: Data from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) was queried for parathyroidectomy and patient race. Complications within 30 days of surgery were extracted. RESULTS: Among, White, Black, Asian, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, and Hispanic patients of the United States the Asians (p = 0.018) and Blacks (p = 0.003) had increased operative time for parathyroid surgery compared to other groups. Hispanics had the most surgical complications (p = 0.025). Blacks had statistically significant longer hospital stay (p < 0.0001). DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: United States Asian patient data is not typically analyzed separately for complications. We found that in the United States Asians have increased operative time for parathyroidectomy. Future studies of healthcare inequities should include analysis of data for Asian surgical data in the United States as this may help prevent future surgical complications.