The Use of Race in Medical Research

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 assault15-17are common. Other topics of racial comparison are differences in incidence of renal and cardiovascular18-21diseases 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.