Study challenges finding that Black babies are more likely to survive under the care of Black physicians

October 23, 2024

Baby lying in a crib with toys overhead

(STAT News) – New research calls into question the high-profile conclusion of the first major study to show that the race of physicians influences health outcomes.

In August of 2020, a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science made headlines with its finding that Black infants were half as likely to die by their first birthday when they were cared for by Black doctors instead of white ones.

But a new analysis in the same journal upends that result, showing that survival difference seen in the original study was almost entirely due to infants with very low birth weight; the race of the physician did not have a statistically significant effect on the mortality rates of the babies they cared for. (Read More)