Toward the elimination of race-based medicine: replace race with racism as preeclampsia risk factor

Abstract

Pregnancy-related morbidity and mortality continue to disproportionately affect birthing people who identify as Black. The use of race-based risk factors in medicine exacerbates racial health inequities by insinuating a false conflation that fails to consider the underlying impact of racism. As we work toward health equity, we must remove race as a risk factor in our guidelines to address disparities due to racism. This includes the most recent US Preventive Services Taskforce, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine guidelines for aspirin prophylaxis in preeclampsia, where the risk factor for "Black race" should be replaced with "anti-Black racism." In this commentary, we reviewed the evidence that supports race as a sociopolitical construct and the health impacts of racism. We presented a call to action to remove racial determination in the guidelines for aspirin prophylaxis in preeclampsia and more broadly in our practice of medicine.