A growing literature has called attention to social disparities in outcomes of injury, with low socioeconomic status (SES) found to predict poorer recovery and an increased risk of complications. 1 Udyavar R. Perez S. Haider A. Equal access is quality: an update on the state of disparities research in trauma.

Curr Trauma Rep. 2018; 4: 25-38

Whereas past research has focused on analyzing how objective SES (oSES) measures were associated with injury outcomes, El Moheb et al. present novel data on the correlation between perceived SES (pSES) and a range of recovery measures in a cohort of patients treated for injury within the previous 6-12 mo. 2 El Moheb M. Lu K. Herrera-Escobar J. et al. Perceived socioeconomic status: a strong predictor of long-term outcomes after injury.

J Surg Res. 2022; 275: 172-180

Key findings from their study include a weak correlation between oSES and pSES in their cohort and evidently stronger correlation of injury outcomes with pSES than with oSES. Although the measurement of pSES in this study is an important contribution to characterizing disparities in injury outcomes, an enhanced measurement of oSES remains a more urgent direction for better understanding of the origin of these disparities.