Race-Based Kidney Test Perpetuated Health Disparities, Sparks ChangeA controversial medical algorithm that used race to assess kidney function has been at the center of a heated debate in the nephrology community. For years, the equation to estimate glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) included a racial adjustment that made Black patients’ kidneys appear healthier than they actually were. This practice led to delayed diagnoses, undertreatment, and reduced access to transplants for many Black Americans.The fight to remove race from the equation was led by young physicians and medical students who recognized the harm caused by this race-based approach. They faced significant pushback…
Author: Disparity Matters
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and their collaborators have discovered that sickle cell trait, a carrier state for sickle cell disease, increases the risk of blood clots across diverse human populations. This finding challenges the long-held assumption that sickle cell trait primarily affects individuals of African ancestry. The study, published in Blood Advances, analyzed data from over 19,000 people with various ancestral backgrounds, making it the largest and most diverse study on sickle cell trait to date. The results show that individuals with sickle cell trait have a 1.45-fold higher risk of venous thromboembolism compared to those without…
In the 1990s, a well-intentioned government policy aimed at addressing health disparities inadvertently paved the way for problematic race-based algorithms in medicine. The National Institutes of Health’s requirement to collect and report racial data in funded research revealed stark racial divides in health outcomes. However, this quantification also enabled the development of algorithms that misused race as a health risk factor.Researchers, new to handling race data, often categorized subjects simplistically as Black, Hispanic, or Asian, overlooking complex ancestries within these groups. Many still considered race a biological explanation for differences, rather than a social construct with weak genetic ties. The…
A federal judge in Louisiana has dealt a significant blow to environmental justice efforts by blocking the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from investigating whether race should be considered in enforcing environmental laws and issuing pollution permits. The ruling, made by Trump-appointed Judge James Cain, effectively bars the EPA from using Title VI of the Civil Rights Act in environmental justice cases.The decision stems from a lawsuit filed by former Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry against the EPA. Landry argued that Title VI should only apply if there is clear proof of overt racial discrimination. This ruling particularly impacts residents of…
A recent study on youth mortality rates across racial groups in the United States has come under scrutiny for potentially obscuring critical health disparities affecting Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander youth. The critique, published as a letter to the editor in JAMA, was penned by Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander physicians and health care researchers who expressed concern over the study’s methodology. The original research aimed to evaluate differences in all-cause and cause-specific mortality among youth from various racial groups across the country. Its goal was to identify subpopulations at the greatest risk of increased mortality, thereby highlighting areas…
A new study led by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center has uncovered significant disparities in the use of immunotherapy for patients with advanced kidney and bladder cancers across the United States. The research, published in Urologic Oncology, reveals that factors such as race, socioeconomic status, and healthcare facility type influence whether patients receive these potentially life-saving treatments. Between 2015 and 2020, only 34% of patients with advanced clear cell renal cell carcinoma and 21% of those with advanced urothelial carcinoma of the bladder received immunotherapy. Notably, Black and Hispanic patients with kidney cancer were about 25% less likely to receive…
A recent study by Komodo Health has revealed significant racial and socioeconomic disparities among children experiencing asthma emergencies due to wildfire smoke. The research, focusing on the 2018 Northern California wildfire, found that during the 14-day smoke wave, pediatric asthma exacerbations increased by 76% and asthma-related emergency department visits rose by 27%. Hispanic/Latino children were the most severely impacted, with a 95% increase in asthma exacerbations. Asian American and Pacific Islander children saw a 75% increase, while Black/African American and white children experienced 63% and 55% increases, respectively. The study also highlighted socioeconomic factors contributing to these disparities, with children in areas…
Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women are facing a startling rise in breast cancer rates, dramatically shifting the landscape of racial and ethnic health disparities in the United States. Once considered a low-risk group, AAPI women under 50 have seen a 52% increase in breast cancer diagnoses from 2000 to 2021, surpassing rates for Black and Hispanic women and matching those of white women in this age group. This trend is particularly alarming as it coincides with stagnant breast cancer death rates among AAPI women, while other racial and ethnic groups have experienced significant declines. Helen Chew, director of the…
Clinical algorithms that use race to guide patient care are under scrutiny as the medical community grapples with embedded bias in healthcare. A STAT investigation reveals that these race-based tools, used on millions of patients annually, are deeply rooted in medical practice and proving difficult to change. The controversy came to a head after the murder of George Floyd in 2020, sparking a racial justice movement that reached into medicine. Clinicians and researchers began questioning the ethical implications of considering people of different races as biologically different in medical decision-making. One example is the urinary tract infection (UTI) risk calculator…
A new study from the Michigan Child Health Equity Collaborative (Mi-CHEC) has revealed significant inaccuracies in racial and ethnic designations within electronic medical records at three major pediatric hospitals. These errors could potentially undermine efforts to address health inequities among children of different racial and ethnic backgrounds. The research, published in JAMA Network Open, found error rates in race designations ranging from 22% to 59%, while errors in ethnicity ranged from 5% to 35%. This level of inaccuracy poses a serious challenge to identifying and addressing health disparities in conditions such as asthma, obesity, and diabetes among pediatric patients. Dr. Gary L.…