Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Prescribing of Pain Medication in US Primary Care Settings, 1999–2019: Where Are We Now?

Policy initiatives have attempted to reduce healthcare inequalities in the USA, but evidence on whether these initiatives have reduced racial and ethnic disparities in pain treatment in primary care is lacking. To determine whether racial and ethnic disparities in medication prescribed for pain in primary care settings have diminished over a 21-year period from 1999 to 2019. An annual, representative cross-sectional probability sample of visits to US primary care physicians, taken from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. Pain-related visits to primary care physicians. Prescriptions for opioid and non-opioid analgesics. Of 599,293 (16