Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
[Preprint]. 2025 Feb 3:2023.07.04.23292231.
doi: 10.1101/2023.07.04.23292231.

Online Database of Clinical Algorithms with Race and Ethnicity

Affiliations

Online Database of Clinical Algorithms with Race and Ethnicity

Shyam Visweswaran et al. medRxiv. .

Update in

Abstract

Some clinical algorithms incorporate an individual's race, ethnicity, or both as an input variable or predictor in determining diagnoses, prognoses, treatment plans, or risk assessments. Inappropriate use of race and ethnicity in clinical algorithms at the point of care may exacerbate health disparities and promote harmful practices of race-based medicine. We identified 42 risk calculators that use race as a predictor, five laboratory test results with different reference ranges recommended for different races, one therapy recommendation based on race, 15 medications with guidelines for initiation and monitoring based on race, and four medical devices with differential racial performance. Information on these clinical algorithms are freely available at http://www.clinical-algorithms-with-race-and-ethnicity.org. This resource aims to raise awareness about the use of race in clinical algorithms and to track the progress made toward eliminating its inappropriate use. The database will be actively updated to include clinical algorithms based on race that were missed, along with additional characteristics of these algorithms.

Keywords: clinical algorithm; database; ethnicity; race; risk calculator.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Selection of risk calculators, laboratory tests, and therapy recommendations with race.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Selection of medications with guidelines based on race.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Selection of medical devices with differential racial performance.

References

    1. Collins GS, Reitsma JB, Altman DG, Moons KG. Transparent Reporting of a multivariable prediction model for Individual Prognosis or Diagnosis (TRIPOD): the TRIPOD statement. Ann Intern Med. 2015;162(1):55–63. - PubMed
    1. Dziadzko MA, Gajic O, Pickering BW, Herasevich V. Clinical calculators in hospital medicine: availability, classification, and needs. Comput Methods Programs Biomed. 2016;133:1–6. - PubMed
    1. Green TA, Whitt S, Belden JL, Erdelez S, Shyu CR. Medical calculators: prevalence, and barriers to use. Comput Methods Programs Biomed. 2019;179:105002. - PubMed
    1. Lu C, Ahmed R, Lamri A, Anand SS. Use of race, ethnicity, and ancestry data in health research. PLOS Glob Public Health. 2022;2(9):e0001060. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cerdeña JP, Plaisime MV, Tsai J. From race-based to race-conscious medicine: how anti-racist uprisings call us to act. Lancet. 2020;396(10257):1125–8. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types