We present data from large introductory algebra-based physics courses at a large public research university in the US in which most students were bioscience majors or other health-related majors. The data was analyzed from two introductory physics courses, which are required for most of these students and they are often considered "weed out" courses in that a poor performance in these courses can severely hinder students' long term career goal achievement, e.g., in health-related professions. In particular, these courses can act as gatekeepers for many students and those who do not perform to their satisfaction the first time often repeat these courses, especially if they aspire to remain in their major. We present findings on how likely students from different demographic groups, such as gender, ethnicity and race, were to repeat these introductory algebra-based physics courses and we compared outcomes of students who repeated with those who did not. These findings can help physics departments contemplate strategies for providing support to help all students excel in these algebra-based physics courses so that students do not have to repeat these courses, which are pivotal for accomplishing their long-term career goals.