Why are Black Kids More Likely to Die After Surgery Than White Kids?

Race is a good proxy for racism

In my day job, I’m a clinical researcher and do a fair amount of statistical modeling. When I got started maybe 10 years ago, there were three variables that you had to put into any model you made. Age, sex, and race. You had to adjust for those three things. It was pretty standard. There’s an implicit assumption there — that those things — age, sex, and race, drive outcomes of interest and thus need to be taken into account. But early on I never gave it much thought. Why does race drive outcomes of interest? And of course, the more you ask yourself that question, the more you realize that the thing you should be adjusting for isn’t race at all. It’s racism.

This issue has been brought to light again in this study, appearing in the journal pediatrics.

Post-operative mortality among healthy children, stratified by race

Let me start at the end. This study shows that among healthy children undergoing an inpatient surgical operation, black kids have a 3.5-fold…