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White children have a better chance of being diagnosed and treated for ear infections than their black peers.
But that lack of early antibiotic intervention means black children may end up with better care.
By studying doctors' treatment of ear infections, researchers from the University of Utah and Emory University found racial gaps in the overuse of antibiotics.
The research "raises the possibility" that racial bias among doctors can affect how they diagnose and prescribe medicines, lead author Adam Hersh said in a prepared statement.
The study appeared Monday in the journal Pediatrics. It was paid for by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
It seems unlikely, but the apparent racial gap means black children have better odds of getting the recommended course of care, the researchers wrote.
That's because black youngsters tend to get antibiotics that target specific infections. White children, on the other hand, are more likely to receive a broad-ranging antibiotic that can make them resistant to future infection-fighting treatments.
Researchers sifted through medical records from about 20,000 doctor visits nationwide. They found that about 30 percent fewer black children received an ear infection diagnosis. If a black child did get the diagnosis, he or she was 20 percent less likely to receive a prescription for wide-ranging antibiotics.
The study could indicate that parents of black children may be less likely to come back for follow-up visits, or less likely to bring in children with respiratory infections in the first place.
Even though they are common, ear infections can be tricky to diagnose. For one, it's hard to tell bacterial infections, which can be treated with antibiotics, from viral infections, which cannot. So doctors sometimes write a prescription for the antibiotics, even if it's unclear which one the child has, the researchers said.
And parents are part of the problem, Hersh said. Moms and dads of white kids may expect antibiotics, to which "physicians may tailor their diagnosis."
The medicine may calm parents' fears, but antibiotics can have consequences: They are "the single most important driver" in making children more resistant to future antibodies, said Lauri Hicks, a co-author and the medical director for the CDC's "Get Smart: Know when Antibiotics Work" program.