CONTEXT: Studies documenting racial/ethnic disparities in health care frequently implicate physicians' unconscious biases. No study to date has measured physicians' unconscious racial bias to test whether this predicts physicians' clinical decisions. OBJECTIVE:To test whether physicians show implicit race bias and whether the magnitude of such bias predicts thrombolysis recommendations for black and white patients with acute coronary syndromes. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS:An internetbased tool comprising a clinical vignette of a patient presenting to the emergency department with an acute coronary syndrome, followed by a questionnaire and three Implicit Association Tests (IATs). Study invitations were e-mailed to all internal medicine and emergency medicine residents at four academic medical centers in Atlanta and Boston; 287 completed the study, met inclusion criteria, and were randomized to either a black or white vignette patient.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: IAT scores (normal continuous variable) measuring physicians' implicit race preference and perceptions of cooperativeness. Physicians' attribution of symptoms to coronary artery disease for vignette patients with randomly assigned race, and their decisions about thrombolysis. Assessment of physicians' explicit racial biases by questionnaire. RESULTS:Physicians reported no explicit preference for white versus black patients or differences in perceived cooperativeness. In contrast, IATs revealed implicit preference favoring white Americans (mean IAT score=0.36, P<.001, one-sample t test) and implicit stereotypes of black Americans as less cooperative with medical procedures (mean IAT score 0.22, P<.001), and less cooperative generally (mean IAT score 0.30, P<.001). As physicians' prowhite implicit bias increased, so did their likelihood of treating white patients and not treating black patients with thrombolysis (P=.009).CONCLUSIONS: This study represents the first evidence of unconscious (implicit) race bias among physicians, its dissociation from conscious (explicit) bias, and its predictive validity. Results suggest that physicians' unconscious biases may contribute to racial/ ethnic disparities in use of medical procedures such as thrombolysis for myocardial infarction.

BACKGROUND Andexanet alfa is a modified recombinant inactive form of human factor Xa developed for reversal of factor Xa inhibitors. METHODS We evaluated 352 patients who had acute major bleeding within 18 hours after administration of a factor Xa inhibitor. The patients received a bolus of andexanet, followed by a 2-hour infusion. The coprimary outcomes were the percent change in anti-factor Xa activity after andexanet treatment and the percentage of patients with excellent or good hemostatic efficacy at 12 hours after the end of the infusion, with hemostatic efficacy adjudicated on the basis of prespecified criteria. Efficacy was assessed in the subgroup of patients with confirmed major bleeding and baseline anti-factor Xa activity of at least 75 ng per milliliter (or ≥0.25 IU per milliliter for those receiving enoxaparin). RESULTS Patients had a mean age of 77 years, and most had substantial cardiovascular disease. Bleeding was predominantly intracranial (in 227 patients [64%]) or gastrointestinal (in 90 patients [26%]). In patients who had received apixaban, the median anti-factor Xa activity decreased from 149.7 ng per milliliter at baseline to 11.1 ng per milliliter after the andexanet bolus (92% reduction; 95% confidence interval [CI], 91 to 93); in patients who had received rivaroxaban, the median value decreased from 211.8 ng per milliliter to 14.2 ng per milliliter (92% reduction; 95% CI, 88 to 94). Excellent or good hemostasis occurred in 204 of 249 patients (82%) who could be evaluated. Within 30 days, death occurred in 49 patients (14%) and a thrombotic event in 34 (10%). Reduction in anti-factor Xa activity was not predictive of hemostatic efficacy overall but was modestly predictive in patients with intracranial hemorrhage. CONCLUSIONS In patients with acute major bleeding associated with the use of a factor Xa in-hibitor, treatment with andexanet markedly reduced anti-factor Xa activity, and 82% of patients had excellent or good hemostatic efficacy at 12 hours, as adjudicated according to prespecified criteria. (Funded by Portola Pharmaceuticals; ANNEXA-4 .)

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Key Points Question What are the characteristics of patients with active cancer presenting to US emergency departments? Findings In this multicenter cohort study of 1075 adult patients with active cancer in the Comprehensive Oncologic Emergencies Research Network (CONCERN), patients commonly presented with symptoms such as pain (62.1%) and nausea (31.3%), were frequently treated for potential infection (26.5%), and were admitted (57.2%; 25.0% for <2 days) or placed in observation (7.6%). Meaning Opportunities for improving emergency department care for patients with cancer include establishing protocols and processes for prompt and appropriate symptom control, creating improved risk stratification tools, and improving outpatient management to prevent ED visits.