SACRAMENTO, United States, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Black patients in the United States are more likely than white patients to have medical notes that cast doubt on their honesty or competence, according to a study published in the journal PLoS One last week.

The study analyzed more than 13 million electronic health record notes written between 2016 and 2023 by around 12,000 clinicians at five hospitals in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Researchers found that Black patients had 29 percent higher odds of being described with such terms compared with white patients. In contrast, Asian patients were less likely to face doubt and more likely to be described as credible.

"There are markers that suggest that clinicians really do doubt what Black patients say more so than they do of white patients," the lead author, Mary Catherine Beach of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, told medical news website MedPage Today.

Researchers warned that such bias can erode trust, discourage patients from seeking care, and even lead to medical errors or death. They noted that biased notes can also influence how other clinicians perceive patients in the future. ■