The Right Profile? An Examination of Race-Based Pharmacological Treatment of Hypertension

• In Event: 322 - Section on Medical Sociology Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 16. Race, Ethnicity and Health

Abstract

“Racial profiling” has been increasingly cited in the clinical and social science literatures to describe race-based differences in medical diagnoses and treatment However, the extent to which racial profiling in medicine is an empirical reality is debated – partly because the term itself is used to describe competing processes of bias. This article distinguishes between two such processes that influence race-based treatment recommendations - racial profiling and racial valuation. Through a systematic analysis of the role of race in the pharmacological treatment of hypertension, it illustrates that both mechanisms help explain race-based trends in treatment for the disease during and soon after the period in which such treatment becomes validated and encoded in national guidelines. Findings indicate a nuanced process by which sex/gender mediates not only the effect of race on treatment recommendations but also the mechanism through which racialized treatment operates. They also suggest that over time drugs may take on a racial character, leading to the systematic identification of certain drugs with specific races, driving treatment patterns that conflate race with legitimate medical criteria.

Author

• Leslie R. Hinkson, Georgetown University