6 ms·

https://www.propublica.org/article/nothing-protects-black-women-from-dying-in-pregnancy-and-childbirth https://www.propublica.org/article/nothing-protects-black

https://www.propublica.org/article/nothing-protects-black-women-from-dying-in-pregnancy-and-childbirth https://www.propublica.org/article/nothing-protects-black-wo... This is a longer article on the subject of poorer health outcomes for minorities, covering the situation for black women and one family's experience, which is very much worth reading, but here are the key points: Statistics: * A black woman is 22% more likely to die from heart disease than a white woman * ...71 percent more likely to perish from cervical cancer * ...243 percent more likely to die from pregnancy- or childbirth-related causes Reasons: * Black women are more likely to be uninsured outside of pregnancy, when Medicaid kicks in, and thus more likely to start prenatal care later and to lose coverage in the postpartum period. * The hospitals where they give birth are often the products of historical segregation, lower in quality than those where white mothers deliver, with significantly higher rates of life-threatening complications. * [Black women] are more likely to have chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and hypertension that make having a baby more dangerous. * Black expectant and new mothers frequently told us that doctors and nurses didn’t take their pain seriously [...] numerous studies that show pain is often undertreated in black patients for conditions from appendicitis to cancer. * An expanding field of research shows that the stress of being a black woman in American society can take a significant physical toll during pregnancy and childbirth. * Black women are 49 percent more likely than whites to deliver prematurely (and, closely related, black infants are twice as likely as white babies to die before their first birthday).

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
pkaye 9y ago
But this seems to be different situation from what the article is talking about which is the inadequate involvement of minorities in drug trials. You are highlighting the lack of adequate health coverage which is a different issue in the US. But this bring up a question if blacks and other minorities have the poorer health outcomes in other countries? Japan, China, South Korea for example does their own drug testing and development so would they find that a particular drug doesn't work on their population at all? What about the black population in UK or France? Do they also have poorer health outcomes?
- blaurenceclark 9y ago
  We haven't done extensive research in populations outside of the United States, but for the last 50-100 years the US (and Europe) has been leading the charge, but in both these locations, Minorities have been a low percentage participation in research. As well, many of these outcomes he mentioned are the indirect result of years of research. Think of diabetes, 100 years of research was 99% spent on a white population and that contains prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Populations that aren't white begin to see detrimental effects that add up over time.
  - pkaye 9y ago
    So none of the asian countries (for example SK or Japan) retest the drugs on their own population before approval for use?
    - blaurenceclark 9y ago
      There is a much longer answer to that question. SK and Japan only make up 5% of the asian population, many parts of asia are not well tested for these drugs. We're actually in the process of working with a large pharmaceutical company on a multi-country diabetes prevention trial in Asia because traditionally they have not been tested on as much as necessary. As well the companies there will run many of their trials in the US as well as Asia but our larger population (as well as running the trials in mostly white continents such as Australia and Europe) still causes quite a large discrepancy. We could do a whole other article on this topic.
    - hrktb 9y ago
      Japan retests, and interestingly recreates the same problems in a local way. Taking medical checks for foreigners or minorities in japan means the guidance numbers are mostly irrelevant. Doctors might not know very well how to deal with you, a lot of advice for common but non critical illness can be summed up to “you do you”
  - Alex3917 9y ago
    > We haven't done extensive research in populations outside of the United States, but for the last 50-100 years the US (and Europe) has been leading the charge I'm confused, I thought that over the last ten years a lot of the medical research formerly conducted by U.S. pharma companies has been outsourced to SROs, who in turn test their drugs on poor people in India or whatever. Is that not actually the case?
indubitable 9y ago
According to the CDC, the average weight [1] of a black woman aged 20-39 years in the US is 179 lbs, 158 lbs for a white woman. Converting to BMI (to adjust for height differences), the story is the same with an average 30.2 vs 26.7, or 'moderately obese' versus 'overweight.' Remove any notions of race and compare the stats based entirely on equivalent weight/BMI I you will find nearly all differences would disappear. Fatness is literally killing our nation (with our life expectancy continuing to decline) and currently blacks are the fattest group in America. This can lead to false correlations laden with completely unjustified identity politics. [1] - https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad347.pdf https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad347.pdf
- blaurenceclark 9y ago
  Then why is asthma medication less effective on Latino's and African Americans? And why did my friend have to visit 5 doctors and it wasn't until he found the Black doctor that his skin condition (which is common to only African Americans regardless of weight) was properly diagnosed and treated? I'm not saying weight is not a problem, I come from a black family where unhealthy diets are a tradition (but that leads back to the fact that traditional african american diets come from the slave food which was unhealthy but taken in as cultural meals, much longer discussion there), but that does not mean that taking out weight in this discussion solves all or even most of the issues at hand. As well using your same logic, why do Asians who typically have a lower BMI than white individuals have higher incidences of Diabetes? It's not one size fits all https://health.usnews.com/wellness/articles/2016-03-11/asians-and-obesity-looks-can-be-deceiving https://health.usnews.com/wellness/articles/2016-03-11/asian...
  - dominotw 9y ago
    > Asians who typically have a lower BMI than white individuals have higher incidences of Diabetes? Perhaps I missed it but where in that link does it say Asians have "higher incidences of Diabetes" than whites?
    - blaurenceclark 9y ago
faitswulff 9y ago
> Black expectant and new mothers frequently told us that doctors and nurses didn’t take their pain seriously In recent news, Serena Williams had to forcefully talk her nurses and doctors through treating her pulmonary embolism after giving birth to her child: https://qz.com/1177004/serena-williamss-terrifying-childbirth-story/?utm_source=qzfb https://qz.com/1177004/serena-williamss-terrifying-childbirt... Subheader: "When it comes to maternal health, even the greatest of all time is just another black woman."
Clanan 9y ago
That was a fascinating, and heartbreaking, read. The statistics are astounding. I'm disappointed though that the author completely omitted any discussion of single-parent families. 66% of black families are single-parent vs. only 25% of white families. I would think that would have a huge impact on well-being and health of the mother, in general. Even just in terms of making time for doctor's visits, etc.
- forapurpose 9y ago
  > I'm disappointed though that the author completely omitted any discussion of single-parent families ... I would think that would have a huge impact Perhaps the author had no evidence of it. Is there any?
  - Clanan 9y ago
    Sure, tons. A simple Google search turns up reams of sources (and articles about sources). A few random readings show studies on single-mother families having highest rates of poverty, increased rates of smoking, lower health, etc.
    - blaurenceclark 9y ago
      The fully explored answer to that is an article (or book) in and of itself, I can't cover every single outcome but highlight some prominent ones in a 2000 word article.
      - Clanan 9y ago
        I was actually referring to the ProPublica article linked in the parent comment of mine. I believe it's much longer than yours so I was surprised it skipped such an alarming fact. I can certainly appreciate the tradeoffs of what to mention in only 2,000 words!

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

pkaye 9y ago

But this seems to be different situation from what the article is talking about which is the inadequate involvement of minorities in drug trials. You are highlighting the lack of adequate health coverage which is a different issue in the US. But this bring up a question if blacks and other minorities have the poorer health outcomes in other countries? Japan, China, South Korea for example does their own drug testing and development so would they find that a particular drug doesn't work on their population at all? What about the black population in UK or France? Do they also have poorer health outcomes?

blaurenceclark 9y ago
We haven't done extensive research in populations outside of the United States, but for the last 50-100 years the US (and Europe) has been leading the charge, but in both these locations, Minorities have been a low percentage participation in research. As well, many of these outcomes he mentioned are the indirect result of years of research. Think of diabetes, 100 years of research was 99% spent on a white population and that contains prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Populations that aren't white begin to see detrimental effects that add up over time.
- pkaye 9y ago
  So none of the asian countries (for example SK or Japan) retest the drugs on their own population before approval for use?
  - blaurenceclark 9y ago
    There is a much longer answer to that question. SK and Japan only make up 5% of the asian population, many parts of asia are not well tested for these drugs. We're actually in the process of working with a large pharmaceutical company on a multi-country diabetes prevention trial in Asia because traditionally they have not been tested on as much as necessary. As well the companies there will run many of their trials in the US as well as Asia but our larger population (as well as running the trials in mostly white continents such as Australia and Europe) still causes quite a large discrepancy. We could do a whole other article on this topic.
  - hrktb 9y ago
    Japan retests, and interestingly recreates the same problems in a local way. Taking medical checks for foreigners or minorities in japan means the guidance numbers are mostly irrelevant. Doctors might not know very well how to deal with you, a lot of advice for common but non critical illness can be summed up to “you do you”
- Alex3917 9y ago
  > We haven't done extensive research in populations outside of the United States, but for the last 50-100 years the US (and Europe) has been leading the charge I'm confused, I thought that over the last ten years a lot of the medical research formerly conducted by U.S. pharma companies has been outsourced to SROs, who in turn test their drugs on poor people in India or whatever. Is that not actually the case?

indubitable 9y ago

According to the CDC, the average weight [1] of a black woman aged 20-39 years in the US is 179 lbs, 158 lbs for a white woman. Converting to BMI (to adjust for height differences), the story is the same with an average 30.2 vs 26.7, or 'moderately obese' versus 'overweight.' Remove any notions of race and compare the stats based entirely on equivalent weight/BMI I you will find nearly all differences would disappear. Fatness is literally killing our nation (with our life expectancy continuing to decline) and currently blacks are the fattest group in America. This can lead to false correlations laden with completely unjustified identity politics. [1] - https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad347.pdf https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad347.pdf

blaurenceclark 9y ago
Then why is asthma medication less effective on Latino's and African Americans? And why did my friend have to visit 5 doctors and it wasn't until he found the Black doctor that his skin condition (which is common to only African Americans regardless of weight) was properly diagnosed and treated? I'm not saying weight is not a problem, I come from a black family where unhealthy diets are a tradition (but that leads back to the fact that traditional african american diets come from the slave food which was unhealthy but taken in as cultural meals, much longer discussion there), but that does not mean that taking out weight in this discussion solves all or even most of the issues at hand. As well using your same logic, why do Asians who typically have a lower BMI than white individuals have higher incidences of Diabetes? It's not one size fits all https://health.usnews.com/wellness/articles/2016-03-11/asians-and-obesity-looks-can-be-deceiving https://health.usnews.com/wellness/articles/2016-03-11/asian...
- dominotw 9y ago
  > Asians who typically have a lower BMI than white individuals have higher incidences of Diabetes? Perhaps I missed it but where in that link does it say Asians have "higher incidences of Diabetes" than whites?
  - blaurenceclark 9y ago

faitswulff 9y ago

> Black expectant and new mothers frequently told us that doctors and nurses didn’t take their pain seriously In recent news, Serena Williams had to forcefully talk her nurses and doctors through treating her pulmonary embolism after giving birth to her child: https://qz.com/1177004/serena-williamss-terrifying-childbirth-story/?utm_source=qzfb https://qz.com/1177004/serena-williamss-terrifying-childbirt... Subheader: "When it comes to maternal health, even the greatest of all time is just another black woman."

Clanan 9y ago

That was a fascinating, and heartbreaking, read. The statistics are astounding. I'm disappointed though that the author completely omitted any discussion of single-parent families. 66% of black families are single-parent vs. only 25% of white families. I would think that would have a huge impact on well-being and health of the mother, in general. Even just in terms of making time for doctor's visits, etc.

forapurpose 9y ago
> I'm disappointed though that the author completely omitted any discussion of single-parent families ... I would think that would have a huge impact Perhaps the author had no evidence of it. Is there any?
- Clanan 9y ago
  Sure, tons. A simple Google search turns up reams of sources (and articles about sources). A few random readings show studies on single-mother families having highest rates of poverty, increased rates of smoking, lower health, etc.
  - blaurenceclark 9y ago
    The fully explored answer to that is an article (or book) in and of itself, I can't cover every single outcome but highlight some prominent ones in a 2000 word article.
    - Clanan 9y ago
      I was actually referring to the ProPublica article linked in the parent comment of mine. I believe it's much longer than yours so I was surprised it skipped such an alarming fact. I can certainly appreciate the tradeoffs of what to mention in only 2,000 words!