Condition guides
Conditions
20 guides written for Black patients, not translated for them afterwards. Each one says what the evidence shows, what to ask a clinician, and when a symptom cannot wait. Every claim carries the source we read and the date we read it.
Bones, joints and feet
Cancer and blood
Prostate Cancer Screening
Black men are diagnosed with prostate cancer far more often and die from it far more often, and the national screening guidance does not set a separate rule for them.
Sickle Cell Disease
Sickle cell disease is an inherited blood condition that causes sudden crises of severe pain, and more than 90 percent of people who have it in the United States are Black.
Digestive, kidney and hormone
Colorectal Cancer Screening
Black adults have the highest rate of colorectal cancer and the highest death rate from it, and screening now starts at 45 for everyone.
Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is more common in Black adults, kills more often, and is measured by a blood test that can read wrong in people who carry sickle cell trait.
Lungs, allergy and ENT
Asthma
Asthma narrows the airways and can be controlled, yet Black adults are twice as likely to die from it as US adults overall, and Black children almost four and a half times as likely.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea stops your breathing repeatedly through the night, and in one large study of Black adults only a small fraction of those with significant apnea had ever been diagnosed.
Sarcoidosis
Sarcoidosis is an inflammatory disease that most often settles in the lungs, and in the United States Black women carry the highest risk of developing it.
Mental health
Anxiety
Nearly one in five US adults had an anxiety disorder in the past year, treatment works, and Black adults are far less likely to receive any of it.
Depression
Depression is treatable, and Black adults are markedly less likely to receive treatment for it than US adults overall, even though the two report mental illness at close to the same rate.
PTSD and Racial Trauma
PTSD can follow any life-threatening event, and repeated exposure to racism produces trauma-like symptoms that research now describes as racial trauma.
Skin and hair
Central Centrifugal Cicatricial Alopecia
CCCA is a scarring hair loss that starts at the crown and can become permanent, and it is the most common form of scarring hair loss in women of African descent.
Eczema in Skin of Color
On brown and black skin, eczema often looks gray, purple or dark brown rather than red, and it is more common in non-Hispanic Black children.
Keloids
A keloid is scar tissue that keeps growing past the wound that started it, and it is far more common in Black skin than in lighter skin.
Melasma and Dark Spots
Melasma and the dark marks left behind by acne or a rash are most likely in medium to dark skin tones, and they fade over months and years rather than days.
Women's health
Postpartum Depression
About one in eight new mothers reports postpartum depression symptoms, and research shows Black patients who screen positive are less likely to be given the diagnosis.
Preeclampsia and Postpartum Warning Signs
Preeclampsia is high blood pressure in pregnancy that can turn dangerous quickly, and it can appear for the first time after the baby is born.
Uterine Fibroids
More than 80 percent of Black women will have fibroids by age 50, they arrive younger and grow larger, and hysterectomy is performed 2 to 3 times more often.
Looking for something else?
Guides tell you what a condition is and what to ask. The directory tells you who can treat it, and the resource pages list free help in your state.