You know we all love our clinical prediciton rules! But we also know that many of them include race as a predictive factor that probably does not have a basis in actual human physiology.
These authors looked at the STONE score (a new one to me!) that looked to predict the presence of uncomplicated renal stones as the source of “renal colic pain” and also rule out some of the more serious mimics. The original score included origin, defined as non-Black race, as one of the predictors of stone disease. The study authors revalidated the score substituting obvious, or visible, hematuria for origin and found no difference in clinical accuracy.
When using these kind of tools, this study re-emphasizes the need to scrutinize the inclusion of race based inclusion or exclusion criteria, and whether they are based on any actual evidence.
References
Construction and performance of a clinical prediction rule for ureteral stone without the use of race or ethnicity: A new STONE score
