The Use of Race in Medical Research

Abstract

IS RACIAL research in medicine racist? Publications about comparative racial research number in the thousands. A review of the English-language medical literature reveals that there is a predilection for making comparisons between black and white patients, particularly with diseases associated with promiscuity, underachievement, and antisocial behavior. Reports on studies of sexually acquired diseases,^1-6suboptimal intellectual performance,^7-9drug abuse,^10,11violence,^12-14and sexual assault^15-17are common. Other topics of racial comparison are differences in incidence of renal and cardiovascular^18-21diseases and presumed racial differences in anatomy,^22,23physiology,^24-26and psychology.²⁷ See also pp 259 and 268. When race is used as a variable in research, there is a tendency to assume that the results obtained are a manifestation of the biology of racial differences; race as a variable implies that a genetic reason may explain differences in incidence, severity, or outcome of medical conditions.