Black people are four times as likely as whites to suffer from kidney failure, but the kidney function of many Black people have been overestimated by “race corrections” that were added to the GFR test that have been criticized as racially biased.
Black people are four times as likely as whites to suffer from kidney failure, but the kidney function of many Black people has been overestimated by “race corrections” that were added to the GFR test and have been criticized as racially biased.
As The Associated Press reports, advocates like Dr. Michelle Morse, New York City’s Chief Medical Officer, see the adjustments to the kidney transplant list as a long overdue change.
Morse told The AP, “Health equity scholars have been raising alarm bells about the way race has been misused in clinical algorithms for decades. Lots of time when we see health inequities, we just assume there’s nothing we can do about it,” Morse said. “We can make changes to restore faith in the health system and to actually address the unfair and avoidable outcomes that Black people and other people of color face.”
In her conclusion, Mullen stated, “So many disparities in the transplantation system are unfair, avoidable, and unjust. None of us should succumb to a better-than-nothing mindset. Better than nothing is not good enough. Our patients deserve equity.”
Mullen also noted that she was concerned about Richardson’s overall kidney health and wondered if he was receiving proper care from his primary care physician. According to Yale Medicine, diabetes and high blood pressure, two ailments more prevalent in the Black community, can lead to chronic kidney disease.
“This action underscores our commitment to equity in access to transplantation for all candidates,” McCauley said. “We and many other organizations have now prohibited the use of a race-based calculation that has unfairly delayed care for many Black patients with kidney failure. Waiting time for a transplant is a major factor in the priority that kidney candidates receive. Thus, we are acting along with kidney transplant programs nationwide to ensure that any candidates known to have been disadvantaged by a race-inclusive GFR calculation will receive all the waiting time credit for which they qualify.”
“Race is a social construct, not a biological one. The National Institute of Health’s Human Genome Project has demonstrated that there are no biological differences between races. Armed with this evidence and the new eGFR recommendation, I expect doctors to ensure that their Black patients with potential kidney disease get true readings of their kidneys’ health and the same level of care and consideration that non-Black patients have received since 1999.”
Source: Black Enterprise
