Racial Concordance Between NBA and MLB Players and Their Team Physicians

Area of Science:

• Sports Medicine
• Health Disparities
• Patient-Provider Relationship

Background:

• Growing interest in patient-provider race concordance for minority health outcomes.
• Elevated patient-physician race discordance is a unique characteristic of professional athletics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate racial concordance between professional athletes and their team physicians.
• Focus on two major US sports leagues: National Basketball Association (NBA) and Major League Baseball (MLB).

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study utilizing publicly available data from June 2023.
• Independent observers assessed sex and race of NBA/MLB players and team physicians.
• Physician data included medical training, specialty, languages spoken, and years in practice.

Main Results:

• Statistically significant racial composition differences between athletes and physicians in both NBA and MLB (P < .0001).
• In MLB, only 11.6% of physicians spoke Spanish despite 30.7% Hispanic/Latino players.
• Over 50% of MLB organizations lacked a Spanish-speaking team physician.

Conclusions:

• Significant race discordance identified between professional athletes and head team physicians.
• Physician demographics mirroring patient populations, including athletes, may enhance healthcare relationships.
• Addressing discordance could improve patient-provider barriers in professional sports.