Study: Response to treatment by white patients dependent on skin color and doctor's sex

Created: 07/01/2022 17:12

One study found that white patients' response to treatment was dependent on the doctor's gender and skin color.

Prejudice seems to play a role, as the placebo effect was strongest among white male doctors.

© Antonio Gravante / Shotshop / Imago

Prejudices can affect health: In a recent study, the placebo effect in white patients was greater when the attending physician was white and male.

Zurich - Does it matter what skin color or gender the doctor treating you has?

In terms of competence, it certainly makes no difference.

However, the reaction of white patients to the treatment could be different, as a study by the University of Zurich shows.

The placebo effect was greatest in white patients when they were treated by a white male doctor.

These were not people who openly harbored prejudices - according to the study, the reservations were subconscious.

Study: Implicit biases have health implications

A study by a research team led by Lauren C. Howe from the University of Zurich reveals how deeply prejudices are apparently anchored in society.

In the study design, 187 white patients suffering from an allergy were subjected to a standardized treatment.

When selecting the patients, the researchers made sure that they did not express prejudice against women or people with black skin.

First, an allergic reaction was triggered in the test subjects and this was then apparently alleviated with a cream.

The highlight: The ointment did not contain any active ingredient, so any reaction to the treatment could be attributed to the placebo effect.

The test subjects were randomly treated by a woman or a man who was either white, black or Asian-looking.

White patients showed a lower response to the standardized treatment when women or black people administered the cream.

On the other hand, the red area on the skin was also larger when the allergic reaction was triggered by a black-skinned doctor than, for example, by an Asian-looking or white doctor.

The researchers suspected that the reason for this was that trust in doctors influences the healing process.

The study, published June 27 in the journal PNAS, shows how strong learned associations about social groups still are in society.

Among other things, the researchers cited the representation of doctors in the media as a reason that reinforces the “doctor = white male” association.

That's the placebo effect

Placebos are often used in clinical trials.

For example, if a drug is to be tested, a test group gets the drug with the active ingredient and a control group only gets a placebo - i.e. a dummy drug without an active ingredient.

If people have the expectation that something will help them, they can also experience an improvement in their physical or psychological condition in the control group - i.e. without actually receiving an active ingredient.

This soothing or healing effect without an active ingredient is explained by the placebo effect.

Study: Patients had no explicit prejudices - but their reaction speaks a different language

The research team led by Lauren C. Howe examined various explanations for the reaction of the white patients.

The scientists concluded that subconscious biases played a role.

"Interestingly, the patients had no explicit prejudice against women or black medical professionals," Howe said.

The researchers found this out through a survey.

On the contrary, the study participants even tried not to be biased.

Outside observers were also able to observe that the white patients acted more politely and with more interest when they were treated by a female doctor or a black doctor.

This was the conclusion reached by over 1000 people who studied and evaluated ten-second video recordings of the treatment without sound.

Previous research has shown that people tend to "overcompensate" in cross-group interactions, the study says.

The ten most common allergies: from hay fever and gluten intolerance to fragrance and sun allergies

View photo gallery

also read

Highest heat warning level in Italy: Prime Minister Draghi calls out an emergency plan

"Bad surprise": Corona alarm in Italy, Greece and Co. - holiday countries bring 3G back

From the point of view of the head of the study, Howe, the results illustrate how deep prejudices are.

"If a doctor doesn't look like someone who has had that role for most of history -- that is, isn't a white male -- patients may be less responsive to treatment," she said.

Implicit prejudices can therefore have consequences for health.

But the "face of medicine" is changing, with women and blacks making up an increasing percentage of health workers in the US, where the study was conducted.

In 2017, for the first time in US history, more women were admitted to medical schools.

Non-white people already made up more than 50 percent of the applicants.

However, society's idea of ​​what a doctor looks like has not yet adapted to reality.

Only Asian medical professionals seem to have arrived in the "mainstream".

In the study, the patients reacted to Asian-looking doctors in a similar way to white ones.