J Natl Med Assoc
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The African American (AA) community in Washington DC is at an elevated risk for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) that has a dismal prognosis. The recent rapid increase in the incidence and diagnosis of HCC and liver metastases (LM) in DC prompted us to evaluate the past six decades of this incidence and some of its underlying causes using a single institutional cohort in a hospital located in the center of the city. Electronic medical and pathology records of 454 liver cancer patients from 1959 to 2013 at Howard University Hospital (HUH) were reviewed. ⋯ Cases of liver metastases clinically diagnosed and confirmed by biopsies increased 96.4% from 1959 to 1968 to 2009-2013. This study confirms that HCC incidence has been increasing (initially driven by HCV, and NAFLD in the latter decades) more rapidly in DC than previously believed, highlighting the impact of case definitions especially regarding NAFLD in the context of changing diagnostic approaches including the revised ICD10. The rising burden, disproportionate population distribution, and low survival rate among AAs emphasize the importance of prevention and early detection as a public health imperative.
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The value of including race as part of the patient identifier in care and medical education has been a topic of debate among clinicians, medical educators, and sociologists.1,2,6,7,8 The perceived benefit of using racial identifiers is that it may allow physicians to predict the risk of disease and inform drug therapy.9 This association is thought to be useful to medical students and trainees as they form their clinical knowledge base. However, there is a larger body of evidence that the use of race leads to bias and stereotyping by physicians. In many cases, patients are assigned to racial categorizations that are inconsistent with their self-reported identities.1,15 It is unclear which medical schools have a policy that explicitly detail their stance on this topic. In this article, we propose a frame of thinking to guide medical educators as they develop policies on race as patient identifiers.
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Minority groups continue to suffer disproportionately from COVID-19's impact, with Blacks and Hispanics three times more likely to die from the disease than their White counterparts. The COVID-19 vaccine roll out has the potential to provide relief to these most adversely impacted communities. However, historic mistrust within racial minority communities threatens to derail the effective implementation of a vaccination program. ⋯ Current day experience with structural racism and research abuses like Tuskegee Study collectively influence our perception of biased healthcare system. We outline issues and propose solutions that must be addressed to achieve a successful vaccination agenda. Mishandling of public expectations at any point may lead to an avalanche of vaccine opposition which might be unrecoverable.
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To determine whether the homeless population experiences disparities in care and communication during inpatient hospitalizations in a safety-net hospital. ⋯ In an urban safety-net hospital, disparities in communications regarding medications between hospital staff and patients were found based on housing status.
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Letter
From COVID-19 to cancer, watching social determinants decide life: When will we stop spectating?
The COVID-19 pandemic reminds us that African American, Latinx, Indigenous, and poor communities face significant healthcare disparities. Members of these communities have increased exposure to the virus due to higher rates of crowded living conditions and employment in essential occupations. Furthermore, news reports and public health data show that residents of these communities have more comorbidities, utilize hospitals with fewer resources, and experience greater treatment delays, all resulting in higher mortality related to COVID-19. ⋯ These stark realities demand that we stop merely reporting the impact of adverse social determinants on the health of communities. We must instead target these causes of healthcare disparities. Here, we discuss proposed action items from the 2019 National Cancer Policy Forum workshop entitled "Applying Big Data to Address the Social Determinants of Health in Oncology." These actions are critical first steps to address adverse social determinants and thereby decrease unnecessary deaths in underserved communities.