A substantial number of white medical students and residents hold false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites, according to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that these beliefs predict racial bias in pain perception and treatment recommendation, which could contribute to disparities in pain management between white and black people.
In a group of 222 white medical students, half indicated they believed at least one of 11 false beliefs about racial physiological differences were possibly, probably or definitely true, according to the Los Angeles Times. Possibly influenced by these false beliefs, half of the white medical students rated the physical pain of hypothetical black patients as less severe as hypothetical white patients with the same affliction.
Study participants ranged from first-year medical school students to residents who were already treating patients. They viewed 15 statements about physiological differences between the races and rated them as definitely, probably or possibly untrue or possibly, probably or definitely true.
While medical research has established that racial differences in disease rates exist, researchers tend to view social and economic differences and disparities in access to healthcare services as the most significant contributors to different healthcare outcomes between white and black Americans, according to the report.
Prior research has ascertained that black people have denser, stronger bones than whites, are less likely to get spinal cord diseases and are more likely to develop heart disease and have a stroke. However, many of the white participants indicated belief in falsehoods, such as that white people have larger brains and more efficient respiratory systems than black people and that black people have stronger immune systems, have a more acute sense of smell and are significantly more fertile than whites.
Regarding pain, one question asked participants if they believed that black people's nerve endings are less sensitive to white people's nerve endings, to which 8 percent of the first-year medical students, 14 percent f the second-year students, none of the third-year students and one of the 28 residents said the claim was possibly, probably, or definitely true, according to the report.
The researchers found that the more false beliefs regarding racial physiological differences a participant subscribed to, the more likely he or she was to perceive a white person's pain as more severe than a black person's. Belief in these falsehoods also predicted a subject would underestimate the standard pain relief needed for a black patient's reported level of pain, according to the report.
The study cannot be interpreted as showing that false beliefs about racial physiological differences directly cause medical students to underestimate the degree of pain experienced by the hypothetical black patients. The study merely suggests the misconceptions may influence the study participants' behavior.
The study also found that medical students who embraced few or no false beliefs about racial differences tended to rate black patients' pain as worse than white patients' with the same condition, according to the report. However, these participants did not recommend different levels of pain relief for black and white patients.