Clinician Notes for Sickle Cell Patients Often Include High Number of Negative Descriptors

THURSDAY, April 16, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) have more negative descriptors than Black patients without SCD and those with chronic pain, according to a study published online April 13 in JAMA Network Open.Austin Wesevich, M.D., M.P.H., from the University of Chicago in Illinois, and colleagues examined clinician notes from outpatient, emergency department, and inpatient encounters from Jan. 1, 2019, to Oct. 1, 2020, to assess intersecting stigmatizing identities of patients with SCD, identifying as Black, presenting with pain, and treated with opioids. Notes were also included for a counterfactual group of patients who were not Black and did not have SCD, chronic pain, or opioid use disorder (OUD).A total of 39,871 clinician notes were analyzed for 18,326 patients. The researchers found that negative descriptors were present in 15 percent of 1,443 notes among patients with SCD and in 19 percent of 643 notes among those with all four stigmatizing identities. The odds of a negative descriptor in notes were higher for patients with SCD versus Black patients without SCD, patients with chronic pain without SCD, and patients in the counterfactual group (adjusted odds ratios, 2.46, 1.96, and 14.26, respectively), but no difference was seen compared with patients with OUD without SCD."This work sheds light on issues patients have been experiencing for many years, and we're not only paying attention to it -- we're doing something about it," Wesevich said in a statement. "We need effective anti-bias interventions to improve care for patients with sickle cell disease, and this deeper understanding is a step in the right direction."Abstract/Full Text.Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

Clinician Notes for Sickle Cell Patients Often Include High Number of Negative Descriptors

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