Gun Violence Exposure Associated With Suicidal Behavior Among Black Americans
For Black adults, exposure to gun violence — including being threatened with a gun or knowing someone who had been shot — was linked with suicidal outcomes, a cross-sectional study found. Exposure to one type of gun violence was significantly associated with lifetime suicidal ideation (OR 1.69, 95% CI 1.19-2.39, P=0.003), according to Daniel Semenza, […]
Asthma Attacks Decreased Among Black Patients During the Pandemic
Despite Black patients having the highest prevalence of asthma prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, decreasing trends in asthma attacks were observed for this population during the pandemic relative to white patients, according to findings from a national survey study. Asthma attack rates decreased from 29.3% in 2019 to 22.1% in 2022 among Black adults, with […]
Suicide Rates Among Black Women Rose Over 2 Decades
Suicide rates among Black women increased from 1999 to 2020, especially among teens and young adults, according to an analysis of national data. Among Black women ages 15 to 84, suicide rates rose from 2.1 per 100,000 in 1999 to 3.4 per 100,000 in 2020, according to Victoria Joseph, MPH, of the Columbia University Mailman […]
Study of ancient British oral microbiomes reveals shift following Black Death
The Second Plague Pandemic of the mid-14th century, also known as the Black Death, killed 30-60 percent of the European population and profoundly changed the course of European history. New research led by Penn State and the University of Adelaide suggests that this plague, potentially through resulting changes in diet and hygiene, may also be […]
Opinion | Upending the Notion of What It Looks Like to Be Suicidal
The death of Stephen “tWitch” Boss in December hit the entertainment world and many in the medical and Black communities like a thunderbolt. It is seemingly unfathomable how someone with so much love, light, and promise who exuded happiness could end his life at just 40 years old, in a hotel room just a 14-minute […]
Nina Westbrook Has The Perfect Affirmation For Black Women
“I Run This” is a weekly interview series that highlights Black women and femmes who do dope shit in entertainment and culture while creating visibility, access and empowerment for those who look like them. Nina Westbroook is on a mission. Some may know her as Russell Westbrook’s wife and college sweetheart, but Westbrook has been […]
Racial, Ethnic Disparities Persist in OUD Treatment
Black and Hispanic patients with a disability had a tougher time getting medication to treat opioid use disorder (OUD) despite frequent contact with healthcare providers, Medicare claims data showed. Within 180 days of an index OUD-related event, Black patients received a prescription for buprenorphine 12.7% of the time, Hispanic patients 18.7% of the time, and […]
Opinion | The Medical System Is Failing Black Kids With Severe Mental Illness
My Black patient spent most of February in a locked inpatient psychiatric ward. Well, he wasn’t my patient anymore, but he had been at one time. As a resident working with hospitalized children with severe mental illnesses, he was one of my very first patients. He helped me to become a better doctor. I wish […]
Opinion | Fostering a New and Diverse Generation of Clinicians
As a medical student, I never saw myself as a future CEO or anything close. I was often the only Black person in the room in classes and rotations. After I became an attending, I spent a great deal of time and mental energy fitting in. Speaking up and having opinions were luxuries I couldn’t […]
Diagnosis, Death in Pulmonary Fibrosis Seen Earlier in Black Patients
Black patients with pulmonary fibrosis (PF) consistently experienced poor outcomes associated with their disease at earlier ages than other groups, including hospitalization and death, according to U.S. registry data spanning nearly two decades. In an analysis from the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation Registry (PFFR) from 2003 to 2021, a PF diagnosis in Black individuals occurred about […]