Racial Profiling in Medical Research

Abstract

Two articles in this issue of the Journal deal with the treatment of heart failure in white and black patients. One, concerning carvedilol, reports that the benefit of this beta-blocker is similar in nonblacks and blacks with chronic heart failure.¹ The other contends that enalapril, an angiotensin-converting–enzyme inhibitor, is more effective in whites than in blacks with left ventricular dysfunction.² The authors of both articles refer to “race,” “racial groups,” “racial differences,” and “ethnic background” but offer no plausible biologic justification for making such distinctions. In a nod to the quandary faced by anyone who tries to explain the complex . . .