Editorial

Disparities in outcomes from chronic disease

BMJ 2001; 323 doi: 10.1136/bmj.323.7319.950 (Published 27 October 2001)
Cite this as: BMJ 2001;323:950

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Impaired patient-physician partnerships may be an important cause in minorities

  1. Jerry A Krishnan, instructor (satish@jhmi.edu),
  2. Gregory B Diette, assistant professor,
  3. Cynthia S Rand, associate professor
  1. Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21224 USA

    Papers pp 962, 967

    Recent developments in basic biomedical research offer the great promise that we will increasingly understand factors that underlie risk and expression of disease and, with further advances in genetic engineering, translate this knowledge into highly individualised treatments to reduce the burden from both acute and chronic diseases. Two studies in this issue, however, remind us that this idealised world of risk prediction and tailored treatments will have to succeed in the real world of cultural and ethnic diversity and imbalances in socioeconomic status.

    Chalmers et al (p 967) report findings from a cohort study examining the relations between socioeconomic status and chronic disease and mortality in Scotland.1 Consistent with studies in other patient populations, 2 3 individuals in the …

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