Moving Beyond Race-Based Medicine
Authors: David S. Jones
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2021)

EditorialsDecember 2021Moving Beyond Race-Based MedicineDavid S. Jones, MD, PhDDavid S. Jones, MD, PhDHarvard University, Cambridge, MassachusettsSearch for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/M21-3804 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail The scars of racism in America have once again been laid bare, this time by COVID-19. Black and Brown people have higher morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 and yet have lower vaccination rates. Such health inequities between Europeans, Africans, and Indigenous people in the United States have existed for more than 500 years and still persist today. Physicians often treat people of different races and ethnicities differently (1, 2). Racism or structural racism contributes to some of these treatment differences, but there are situations in which physicians deliberately treat people of different races differently because they believe that it is ...References1. Institute of Medicine. Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care. National Academies Pr; 2003. Google Scholar2. Saini A. Superior: The Return of Race Science. Beacon Pr; 2019. Google Scholar3. Vyas DA, Eisenstein LG, Jones DS. Hidden in plain sight - reconsidering the use of race correction in clinical algorithms. N Engl J Med. 2020;383:874-82. [PMID: 32853499] doi:10.1056/NEJMms2004740 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar4. Roberts DE. What's wrong with race-based medicine? Genes, drugs, and health disparities. Minn J Law Sci Technol. 2011;12:1-21. Google Scholar5. Eneanya ND, Yang W, Reese PP. Reconsidering the consequences of using race to estimate kidney function. JAMA. 2019;322:113-114. [PMID: 31169890] doi:10.1001/jama.2019.5774 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar6. Sehgal AR. Race and the false precision of glomerular filtration rate estimates [Editorial]. Ann Intern Med. 2020;173:1008-9. [PMID: 32805131] doi:10.7326/M20-4951 LinkGoogle Scholar7. US House of Representatives, House Ways & Means Committee. Feedback from Professional Societies and RFI Respondents on the Misuse of Race within Clinical Care. Press release. 12 January 2021. Accessed at https://waysandmeans.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/feedback-professional-societies-and-rfi-respondents-misuse-race-within-0 on 28 September 2021. Google Scholar8. Cerdeña JP, Plaisime MV, Tsai J. From race-based to race-conscious medicine: how anti-racist uprisings call us to act. Lancet. 2020;396:1125-8. [PMID: 33038972] doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32076-6 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar9. Chapman CH, Schechter CB, Cadham CJ, et al. Identifying equitable screening mammography strategies for Black women in the United States using simulation modeling. Ann Intern Med. 2021;174:1637-46. doi:10.7326/M20-6506 Google Scholar10. Yudell M, Roberts D, DeSalle R, et al. Taking race out of human genetics. Science. 2016;351:564-5. [PMID: 26912690] doi:10.1126/science.aac4951 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: Harvard University, Cambridge, MassachusettsDisclosures: The author has reported no disclosures of interest. Forms can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M21-3804.Corresponding Author: David S. Jones, MD, PhD, Science Center 371, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138; e-mail, [email protected]edu.This article was published at Annals.org on 19 October 2021. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoIdentifying Equitable Screening Mammography Strategies for Black Women in the United States Using Simulation Modeling Christina Hunter Chapman , Clyde B. Schechter , Christopher J. Cadham , Amy Trentham-Dietz , Ronald E. Gangnon , Reshma Jagsi , and Jeanne S. Mandelblatt Moving Beyond Race-Based Medicine David S. Jones Moving Beyond Race-Based Medicine Ashok V. Daftary Moving Beyond Race-Based Medicine Mack Roach III Metrics Cited byMoving Beyond Race-Based MedicineAshok V. Daftary, MDMoving Beyond Race-Based MedicineMack Roach III, MD December 2021Volume 174, Issue 12Page: 1745-1746KeywordsBreast cancerCancer screeningHealth careMammographyMortalityRacial and ethnic issuesScreening guidelinesSocioeconomic statusTreatment guidelines ePublished: 19 October 2021 Issue Published: December 2021 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2021 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...