Title: Racial bias is baked into algorithms doctors use to guide treatment
Headings: Racial bias is baked into algorithms doctors use to guide treatment
Racial bias is baked into algorithms doctors use to guide treatment
Heart failure
Kidney donation
Breast cancer
Birth

Content: Several algorithms included in the study adjusted for race based on correlative studies that found a link between race and medical outcome, but did not tease out whether other factors better explained the differences between patients. "Given their potential to perpetuate or even amplify race-based health inequities, [these algorithms] merit thorough scrutiny," the authors wrote in the study. " If doctors and clinical educators rigorously analyze algorithms that include race correction, they can judge, with fresh eyes, whether the use of race or ethnicity is appropriate" for guiding patient care. The report included 13 examples of algorithms, used to assess the risk of developing heart failure, breast cancer and kidney stones, among other ailments, that adjust patient scores based on race and could harm Black and Latino patients, in particular, and occasionally Asian patients, as well. We've detailed four examples below: Heart failure
The Get with the Guidelines–Heart Failure Risk Score, developed by the American Heart Association (AHA), predicts a patient's risk of dying of heart failure in the hospital. A higher score indicates a higher risk of death, so doctors quickly refer patients with higher scores to a cardiologist and may allocate resources to them sooner than patients with lower scores. " Nonblack" patients automatically receive an extra three points on the scale, and therefore, Black patients may be less likely to receive appropriate treatment compared with white patients with the same symptoms and medical history, the authors noted. " The AHA does not provide a rationale for this adjustment," they wrote. Kidney donation
The Kidney Donor Risk Index (KDRI) predicts whether a donated kidney is likely to fail once transplanted, taking the characteristics of the donor, including race, into account.