fbpx Skip to main content

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited hemoglobinopathy that significantly affects the quality of life and life expectancy of Black Americans. Due to America’s longstanding systemic racism, patients with SCD are often neglected and mistreated because of the color of their skin, and adequate healthcare is unattainable. Social attitudes and racism towards Black youth with SCD further exacerbate these issues.

A study was conducted with a group of 20 Black youth participants, ages 13 to 21 years of age, diagnosed with SCD. Information was gathered via interviews with the youth. They were asked to describe any racial bias they had experienced. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed by two separate individuals using a conventional content analysis approach.

The content analysis divided the racial bias events into four categories and twelve subcategories, including perpetrator (peers, authority, public), type of racial bias (explicit, implicit), behavioral reaction (approach, avoidant), and emotional response (dysphoria, anger, unconcerned, inferior, anxious). These interviews revealed that all 20 of the youth participants with SCD had experienced at least one incident of racial bias.

From the information provided in these interviews, we can determine that racism is a deep-rooted issue in American society, and youth with SCD are not spared this injustice. These racial inequalities must be acknowledged and examined in research and clinical practice for SCD disparities to be rectified and for health equity to be achieved. There is also a need for the implementation of educational, medical, and social programs that could improve quality of life and life expectancy for Black youth with SCD [1].

Source:

You May Also Like::  Industry Payments Consistently Linked to Physician Prescribing
[1] Wakefield, E. O., Pantaleao, A., Popp, J. M., Dale, L. P., Santanelli, J. P., Litt, M. D., & Zempsky, W. T. (2018). Describing Perceived Racial Bias Among Youth With Sickle Cell Disease. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 43(7), 779–788. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsy015

“Keeping up with the indications and adverse reactions to immune checkpoint inhibitors can be a full-time job. Cutaneous side effects occur in up to 45% of patients treated with ipilimumab and 34% of patients treated with nivolumab and pembrolizumab.” https://bit.ly/3FGtxtd

.@spfnomt: This month’s #DermWorld article “Estate planning 101” is especially important for young physicians to read. The long, all-consuming years between adolescence and physicianhood can become a blur...https://bit.ly/3FxOtCv

That’s a wrap #AAD2023! 5 days of soaking up knowledge from dermatologists on topics such as hidradenitis, melasma, & dietary triggers of common dermatoses.

I LOVED the #womenshealth focused sessions on vulvar dermatoses and pregnancy medication safety.

#dermtwitter
@AADmember

New approach uses microbiome to treat skin disease by repairing the injured microbiome that allowed inflammation to flare up in the first place, rather than reducing the inflammation after the fact. https://bit.ly/3Jt6H9v

Load More