(MAY 19, 2024) David Kaminsky, M.D., professor of medicine, commented in a Reuters article on a new guideline for U.S. doctors to ignore race in assessing lung health.
David Kaminsky, M.D., professor of medicine
(MAY 19, 2024) David Kaminsky, M.D., professor of medicine, commented in a Reuters article on a new guideline for U.S. doctors to ignore race in assessing lung health.
A guideline for U.S. doctors to ignore race in assessing lung health will likely have profound effects beyond the intended improvements in medical care, such as increasing disability payments and disease diagnoses for Black patients while boosting their job disqualifications, a study found on Sunday.
Asian and Black patients will move forward on U.S. lung transplant waiting lists, with 4.3 fewer days of expected wait time, while Hispanic and white candidates will move back, having to wait 1.1 days longer on average, according to a report of the study in the New England Journal of Medicine.
New, race-neutral equations for determining lung function—taking into account height, age, and gender but not race—aim to help correct such inequities.
The impact on medical outcomes and whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages will not be known for years, said Kaminsky, who co-authored the editorial. “We’re going to have to wait and see,” he said.
This story was also covered by Arizona Digital Free Press, Salem Radio Network News, MedPage Today, and the (Toronto) Globe and Mail.
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