A study examines how racial concordance between physicians and newborns influences newborn survival. In the United States, Black infants are significantly more likely to die during childbirth than White infants. However, whether patient-physician racial concordance improves survival outcomes for Black infants remains unclear. To determine the relationship between newborn mortality risk and the attending physician's race, Brad Greenwood and colleagues reviewed nearly 2 million records of hospital births in Florida that occurred between 1992 and 2015. The authors also retrieved the names of the physicians in charge of the newborns' care and determined each physician's race based on publicly searchable photographs. When cared for by White physicians, Black newborns were approximately three times more likely to die in the hospital than White newborns. However, when Black physicians cared for Black newborns, the mortality rate of Black newborns declined between 39% and 58%. This phenomenon was especially evident in cases of challenging births and in hospitals that delivered relatively more Black newborns. However, physician race had little association with the mortality rate of White newborns. The findings suggest that Black physicians outperform their White colleagues when caring for Black newborns, according to the authors.
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Article #19-13405: "Physician-patient racial concordance and disparities in birthing mortality for newborns," by Brad N. Greenwood, Rachel R. Hardeman, Laura Huang, and Aaron Sojourner.
MEDIA CONTACT: Brad N. Greenwood, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA; tel: 603-714-0274; e-mail: bgreenwo@gmu.edu
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences