Black patients were more than two-and-a-half times as likely as white patients to have negative descriptors about them in their electronic health record, according to a study published Wednesday (in their February 2022 issue) in Health Affairs.
Bontempo, Allyson C. and Mikesell, Lisa. “Patient perceptions of misdiagnosis of endometriosis: results from an online national survey” Diagnosis, vol. 7, no. 2, 2020, pp. 97–106. https://doi.org/10.1515/dx-2019-0020
“For a disease that affects hundreds of millions of individuals and presents across multiple clinical specialties, it is of interest and concern that the disease itself, its symptoms and its management, is not covered in more detail in academic training in any capacity. Furthermore, the research that does exist is not only limited but makes it very clear that better diagnostic measures are needed. Available treat-ment and management tools for endometriosis are insufficient. As a result, individuals with endometriosis must deal with a system that is often ill-equipped to correctly diagnose and treat the condition, which only further contributes to the negative social and psychological impact of endometriosis on patient’s overall quality of life.”
— Zale, Madalene, et al. “Shedding Light on Endometriosis: Patient and Provider Perspectives on a Challenging Disease.” Journal of Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Disorders, vol. 12, no. 2, June 2020, pp. 69–76, doi:10.1177/2284026520905239.
