Racial Bias in Lung Function Diagnostic Algorithm Leads to Underdiagnosis in Black Men
June 1, 2023
A study published in JAMA Network Open reveals that racial bias built into a commonly used medical diagnostic algorithm for lung function may be leading to underdiagnoses of breathing problems in Black men. The study suggests that as many as 40% more Black male patients might have been accurately diagnosed if the software were not racially biased. The software algorithm adjusts diagnostic thresholds based on race, affecting medical treatments and interventions.
- Alleged deployer
- university-of-pennsylvania-health-system
- Alleged developer
- unknown
- Alleged harmed parties
- black-men-who-underwent-lung-function-tests-between-2010-and-2020-and-potentially-received-inaccurate-or-delayed-diagnoses-and-medical-interventions-due-to-the-biased-algorithm
Source
Data from the AI Incident Database (AIID). Cite this incident: https://incidentdatabase.ai/cite/582
Data source
Incident data is from the AI Incident Database (AIID).
When citing the database as a whole, please use:
McGregor, S. (2021) Preventing Repeated Real World AI Failures by Cataloging Incidents: The AI Incident Database. In Proceedings of the Thirty-Third Annual Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence (IAAI-21). Virtual Conference.
Pre-print on arXiv · Database snapshots & citation guide
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