Categorizations of Race and Ethnicity: Useful or Outmoded in Medicine?
Vol. 4(9) September 2007 The PLoS Medicine
The issue image this month takes its theme from an essay (see Braun et al. e271) and a related perspective (see Ellison et al. e287) that explore the controversy and offer opinions on the best way to name, define, and study race and ethnicity in medicine. Human race and ethnicity, although socially determined categories, are routinely used to assign people to groups in research and clinical medicine.
But if these designations are socially determined, what do "black" and "white" really mean in biomedical science and clinical medicine? Is it even possible to reach a consensus on how most accurately and sensitively to name and define race and other groupings that are subject to social tension? The editorial (see Brown et al. e288) focuses on the editorial viewpoint of this question and surveys different solutions adopted by the publishing field.
Defining Human Differences in Biomedicine
Available online at: http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.0040288".......Although race and ethnicity as contentious variables in research and clinical medicine are the most discussed in the literature, they are not the only possible sources of incorrect generalizations and possibly harmful bias. Others are sex/gender, age, sexual orientation, disease/disability, religion, socioeconomic status, and many more.For example, the AMA Manual of Style (10th edition, section 11.10 [13]) and the CSE manual (7th edition, section 7.5 [14]) offer advice on inclusive language in the areas of race/ethnicity, age, disease/disabilities, religion, and sexual orientation, emphasizing in part that terminology should be nonstigmatizing and reflect the preferred designations of groups or individuals. In all of these areas humans have been subject to stereotyping and discrimination; thus a critical examination of all the names we call ourselves and others is warranted, and at least general guidelines should be developed for these areas, although consensus may take time...."Racial Categories in Medical Practice: How Useful Are They?Braun L, Fausto-Sterling A, Fullwiley D, Hammonds EM, Nelson A, et al. Is it good medical practice for physicians to "eyeball" a patient's race when assessing their medical status or even to ask them to identify their race? Racial Categories in Medicine: A Failure of Evidence-Based Practice?Ellison GTH, Smart A, Tutton R, Outram SM, Ashcroft R, et al. Race and ethnicity are imprecise markers of the genotypic and sociocultural determinants of health, argue the authors.
*...*...*...*...*...*
This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues. [DD/ IKM Area]
“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PAHO/WHO Website: http://www.paho.org/
EQUITY List - Archives - Join/remove: http://listserv.paho.org/Archives/equidad.html
IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended recipient and it may contain privileged, proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this transmission to the intended recipient, you may not disclose, copy or distribute this transmission or take any action in reliance on it. If you received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email to infosec@paho.org, and please dispose of and delete this transmission. Thank you.
