TY - JOUR
T1 - Addressing Reproductive Healthcare Disparities through Equitable Carrier Screening
T2 - Medical Racism and Genetic Discrimination in United States’ History Highlights the Needs for Change in Obstetrical Genetics Care
AU - Arjunan, Aishwarya
AU - Darnes, Deanna R.
AU - Sagaser, Katelynn G.
AU - Svenson, Ashley B.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2022/6
Y1 - 2022/6
N2 - Carrier screening, a nearly half-century old practice, aims to provide individuals and couples with information about their risk of having children with serious genetic conditions. Tradi-tionally, the conditions for which individuals were offered screening depended on their self-reported race or ethnicity and which conditions were seen commonly in that population. This process has led to disparities and inequities in care as the multi-racial population in the U.S. has grown exponentially, yet databases used to determine clinical practice guidelines are made up of primarily White cohorts. Technological advancements now allow for pan-ethnic expanded carrier screening (ECS), which screens for many conditions regardless of self-reported race or ethnicity. ECS presents a unique opportunity to promote equitable genetic testing practices in reproductive medicine. However, this goal can only be achieved if we acknowledge and appreciate the innumerable inequities evidenced in reproductive medicine and other socio-legal practices in the United States, and if we intentionally work in concert with healthcare providers, policy makers, advocates, and community health champi-ons to reduce current and future reproductive health disparities. Herein, we provide a brief review of the way that US medical racism and genetic discrimination has shaped the current landscape of carrier screening.
AB - Carrier screening, a nearly half-century old practice, aims to provide individuals and couples with information about their risk of having children with serious genetic conditions. Tradi-tionally, the conditions for which individuals were offered screening depended on their self-reported race or ethnicity and which conditions were seen commonly in that population. This process has led to disparities and inequities in care as the multi-racial population in the U.S. has grown exponentially, yet databases used to determine clinical practice guidelines are made up of primarily White cohorts. Technological advancements now allow for pan-ethnic expanded carrier screening (ECS), which screens for many conditions regardless of self-reported race or ethnicity. ECS presents a unique opportunity to promote equitable genetic testing practices in reproductive medicine. However, this goal can only be achieved if we acknowledge and appreciate the innumerable inequities evidenced in reproductive medicine and other socio-legal practices in the United States, and if we intentionally work in concert with healthcare providers, policy makers, advocates, and community health champi-ons to reduce current and future reproductive health disparities. Herein, we provide a brief review of the way that US medical racism and genetic discrimination has shaped the current landscape of carrier screening.
KW - ethnic carrier screening
KW - expanded carrier screening
KW - genetic discrimination
KW - genetics
KW - health disparities
KW - health equity
KW - medical racism
KW - prenatal genetic testing
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U2 - 10.3390/soc12020033
DO - 10.3390/soc12020033
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85127982847
SN - 2075-4698
VL - 12
JO - Societies
JF - Societies
IS - 2
M1 - 33
ER -