Ending the Practice of “Race Correction” in Nephrology (Kidney Care)

Li Ka Shing, Clinical and Population Research Rounds, 2022

Presented by Dr. Patricia O’Campo, Executive Director of the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at Unity Health Toronto, in partnership with the Canada-US Coalition to End Race Correction in Health Care and Knowledge Translation at the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions.

Dr. Vanessa Grubbs, also known as “The People’s Nephrologist,” will join us for a virtual lecture on May 12, between 12:00 pm and 1:30 pm. Dr. Grubbs is a board certified internist and nephrologist, and author of HUNDREDS OF INTERLACED FINGERS: A Kidney Doctor’s Search for the Perfect Match. Dr. Grubbs will discuss humanity and precision in clinical care and the devastating impacts of race correction on Black people who are kidney patients.

Please click here for a video recording of the talk.

Below please find important background materials:

• Canada-US Coalition to End Race Correction in Health Care.Race correction in health care: a primer. (2022). www.endracecorrection.com.

• Grubbs, V. (2020). Precision in GFR Reporting: Let’s Stop Playing the Race Card. Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 15(8), 1201–1202. https://doi.org/10.2215/CJN.00690120.

• Tsai, J.W. (2021). Jordan Crowley would be in line for a kidney—if he were deemed white enough. Slate. https://slate.com/technology/2021/06/kidney-transplant-dialysis-race-adjustment.html.

• Roberts, D.E. (2021). Abolish race correction. Lancet, 397(10268), 17–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32716-1.

• Tsai, J. W., Cerdeña, J. P., Goedel, W. C., Asch, W. S., Grubbs, V., Mendu, M. L., & Kaufman, J. S. (2021). Evaluating the Impact and Rationale of Race-Specific Estimations of Kidney Function: Estimations from U.S. NHANES, 2015-2018. EClinicalMedicine, 42, 101197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.101197.

• Parekh, R. S., Perl, J., Auguste, B., & Sood, M. M. (2022). Elimination of race in estimates of kidney function to provide unbiased clinical management in Canada. CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l’Association medicale canadienne, 194(11), E421–E423. https://www.cmaj.ca/content/194/11/E421.

• Delgado, C., Baweja, M., Crews, D. C., Eneanya, N. D., Gadegbeku, C. A., Inker, L. A., Mendu, M. L., Miller, W. G., Moxey-Mims, M. M., Roberts, G. V., St Peter, W. L., Warfield, C., & Powe, N. R. (2022). A Unifying Approach for GFR Estimation: Recommendations of the NKF-ASN Task Force on Reassessing the Inclusion of Race in Diagnosing Kidney Disease. American journal of kidney diseases : the official journal of the National Kidney Foundation, 79(2), 268–288.e1. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.ajkd.2021.08.003.

If you have any questions, please email LKSKIResearch@unityhealth.to