New research findings reveal that Black children are facing disparities when it comes to genetic testing.
According to an American Academy of Neurology (AAN) release, many Black children are being denied insurance coverage for necessary neurological genetic testing. White children were more likely to go through with the testing recommended by their pediatric neurologists due to this.
However, there were no disparities from pediatric neurologists, according to the study’s author, Jordan Janae Cole, MD. “We were encouraged to see that pediatric neurologists’ requests for genetic tests were no different based on the patients’ racial or ethnic identity.”
11,371 children’s health records were analyzed during the study. Of the patients that were recommended genetic tests, 554 “completed at least one,” according to AAN. 5.2% of white children did at least one test, while only 3.6% of Black children were able to go through with at least one. “White children were 66% less likely than Black children to have their request for a genetic test from an outpatient neurology clinic denied, with 23% of requests for Black children denied compared to 10% of requests for white children.”
The study is published in Neurology.
