Black patients may be more likely to undergo a skin biopsy for psoriasis, when compared to white individuals, a new study in JAMA Dermatology shows.
The findings suggest that there may be a diagnostic uncertainty in making a diagnosis of psoriasis that disproportionately affects Black individuals.
For the study, researchers conducted a cross-sectional study of adult patients seen in the outpatient dermatology clinics within the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Of 10 008 patients, 4.8% received a skin biopsy for psoriasis.
Skin biopsies for psoriasis were performed most frequently among Black patients (9.8%) followed by Asian or Other Pacific Islander patients (4.7%), White patients (4.1%), patients of unknown race (4.0%), Hispanic patients (3.7%), and patients of other races (ie, American Indian, mixed race, and other unspecified races that were not detailed in the electronic medical record beyond “other.”)
When researchers adjusted for sociodemographic and health care utilization factors, , Black patients had significantly higher odds of receiving a skin biopsy for psoriasis when compared with White patients.
“This diagnostic uncertainty may, in turn, contribute to diagnostic and treatment delays that could be important drivers of the greater objective and subjective disease burden that has been observed among Black adults with psoriasis compared with White adults with psoriasis,” the researchers conclude.
The study wasn’t designed to determine if Black patients had different histories, presentations, and both clinical and nonclinical experiences that appropriately warranted a higher frequency of skin biopsies.
