Over the past decade, much of the U.S. healthcare industry has begun omitting race when predicting and diagnosing illnesses, seen as a way to reduce health disparities and curb systemic racism in healthcare. .
But should healthcare providers ignore a patient’s race when considering individual health risks and treatment options? For example, diseases such as breast cancer and sickle cell anemia are statistically more It is more likely to occur in racial groups.
Co-authored by medical and economic researchers from Northwestern University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Wisconsin unprecedented research This formalizes the discussion of the predictive power of race in medicine.
Aimed at clarifying specific concerns and goals of clinical care, this new study will help physicians, patients and policy makers consider the best approaches to predictive models for disease prevention and treatment. provide a theoretical basis for
Researchers say it’s important for providers to clarify goals of care during patient visits. When seeing sick patients, the doctor’s goal is to improve the health status of the individual patient, and race may need to be considered in some cases.
“If the role of medicine is to help patients, then physicians and patients alike should want the best decisions about disease and its response. If race has predictive power.” should take advantage of it,” he said. Charles Manskysenior author of this study.
Mansky is a Board Professor of Economics at Weinberg College and a Faculty Fellow at the Northwestern University Policy Institute.
In conducting this study, the researchers used standard economic perspectives on social welfare to resolve physicians’ best approaches in determining the optimal care plan for sick patients.
The researchers then used an extended model to consider how everything that happens before a patient arrives sick at the clinic influences a physician’s approach to treating a particular patient. did. These antecedents may include education, nutrition, socioeconomic background, etc.
Analyzes of both models found that the clinician’s role is always to provide optimal care to sick patients. Bearing in mind that some diseases are statistically more likely to occur in certain ethnicities or races, physicians should utilize all relevant information, including race, to make better clinical predictions and The best care needs to be provided, Mansky said.
“Until genetic information and other robust personal data are readily available, it may be better to use some racial information, albeit less specific, than to exclude it from predictive models. If we don’t, it will make things worse for patients of all races,” Mansky said.
“Our research highlights the need for the medical community to think carefully about all the trade-offs that come with not considering race from clinical decision-making. There is a danger of harming the very group that is in it.” Dr. Athendar VenkataramaniAssociate Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy and Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
“One of the key motivations for writing this paper is that much of the current debate is clear about the goals of clinicians and policy makers, and the meaning of terms such as bias, discrimination and equity as they relate to health care delivery. is what we perceive to be lacking,” he said.co-author John MalaheeProfessor of Health Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“Clinical Prediction Using Ethnic Scales: Decision Making, Patient Health, and Equitywas published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on August 22.
