327 Dermatology in the Emergency Department: Are Hispanics Using the ED More Than Others for Inflammatory Skin Diseases?

Inflammatory skin diseases have high prevalence globally and are associated with significant morbidity. We sought to determine whether differences exist in the usage of emergency department (ED) and outpatient dermatologic offices between Hispanics and non-Hispanic white patients with inflammatory skin disease in the U.S. In this cross-sectional study, we used nationally representative data from the Medical Panel Expenditure Survey (MEPS) between 2016-2018. 151, 753, 634 participants (weighted) were identified with any skin condition. 8, 204, 830 had inflammatory skin conditions, including acne, psoriasis, rosacea, urticaria, and seborrheic dermatitis; among them, 277, 206 (3.4%) attended at least one ED visit, and 494, 171 (56.3%) attended at least one outpatient dermatology visit. Multivariate logistic regression showed that, compared to non-Hispanic white patients, Hispanics with an inflammatory skin disease were more likely to visit the ED (aOR, 2.868; 95% CI, 1.250-6.578) and less likely to attend an outpatient dermatology visit (0.090; 0.009-0.929) after adjusting for insurance status, education level, income, sex, age, and comorbidities. This study reveals a national difference in the use of the ED and outpatient dermatologic offices between Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites with inflammatory skin disease.