Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Duration Of Addiction Treatment Shorter For Black, Hispanic Patients: Study
The New York Times: Medication Treatment For Addiction Is Shorter For Black And Hispanic Patients, Study Finds
Researchers have long known that racial and ethnic minorities are less likely to be prescribed lifesaving addiction treatment options than white people. But even when Black and Hispanic patients start a prescription for buprenorphine — the most popular medication to help those in recovery fight cravings — the typical duration of their treatment is shorter than that of white patients, according to a new data analysis published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry. (Baumgaertner, 11/9)
More on health care and racism —
ABC News: Prostate Cancer Screening Guidelines May Fail To Address Racial Disparity: Study
Relaxed PSA screening guidelines may be leading to more late-stage cancer diagnoses, and the current recommendations updated to address this concern might preferentially serve white men, a new study suggests. (Farha, 11/10)
Science: Medical, Scientific Racism Revealed In Century-Old Plaque From Black Man’s Teeth
In the 1930s, a 23-year-old Black man was admitted to City Hospital #2 in St. Louis and, according to his death certificate, died of pneumonia shortly after. Without his consent—or his family’s—his deidentified body was included in one of the United States’s most studied collections of human remains, the Robert J. Terry Anatomical Skeletal Collection, which is now at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). Almost a century later, a team of researchers has been able to confirm the pathogen that ultimately killed him by studying the plaque on his teeth, an achievement that opens new avenues for studying diseases of the past that may leave no other mark after death. (Ortega, 11/2)
Medscape: Doctors React: When And How Racial Disparities Shape Healthcare
The American Medical Association (AMA) Code of Ethics urges physicians to "advocate for social, economic, educational, and political changes that ameliorate suffering and contribute to human well-being." But how achievable is that level of physician activism in today's highly divisive US society. The differing attitudes among doctors, and how those attitudes shape actions taken or avoided, are shown in the Medscape Physicians' Views on Racial Disparities Issues Report 2022. (Yasgur, 10/31)
