Association between race/ethnicity and income on the likelihood of coronary revascularization among postmenopausal women with acute myocardial infarction: Women's health initiative study.

BACKGROUND: Historically, race, income, and gender were associated with likelihood of receipt of coronary revascularization for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Given public health initiatives such as Healthy People 2010, it is unclear whether race and income remain associated with the likelihood of coronary revascularization among women with AMI. METHODS: Using the Women's Health Initiative Study, hazards ratio (HR) of revascularization for AMI was compared for Black and Hispanic women vs White women and among women with annual income <$20,000/year vs ≥$20,000/year over median 9.5 years follow-up(1993-2019). Proportional hazards models were adjusted for demographics, comorbidities, and AMI type. Results were stratified by revascularization type: percutaneous coronary intervention and coronary artery bypass grafting(CABG). Trends by race and income were compared pre- and post-2010 using time-varying analysis. RESULTS: Among 5,284 individuals with AMI (9.5% Black, 2.8% Hispanic, and 87.7% White; 23.2% <$20,000/year), Black race was associated with lower likelihood of receiving revascularization for AMI compared to White race in fully adjusted analyses [HR:0.79(95% Confidence Interval:[CI]0.66,0.95)]. When further stratified by type of revascularization, Black race was associated with lower likelihood of percutaneous coronary intervention for AMI compared to White race [HR:0.72(95% CI:0.59,0.90)] but not for CABG [HR:0.97(95%CI:0.72,1.32)]. Income was associated with lower likelihood of revascularization [HR:0.90(95%CI:0.82,0.99)] for AMI. No differences were observed for other racial/ethnic groups. Time periods (pre/post-2010) were not associated with change in revascularization rates. CONCLUSION: Black race and income remain associated with lower likelihood of revascularization among patients presenting with AMI. There is a substantial need to disrupt the mechanisms contributing to race, sex, and income disparities in AMI management.

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator Utilization: A Contemporary Review.

Purpose of review: Sudden cardiac arrest is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Despite having a disproportionate burden of sudden cardiac death (SCD), rates of primary and secondary prevention of SCD with implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy are lower among eligible racially minoritized patients. This review highlights the racial and ethnic disparities in ICD utilization, associated barriers to ICD care, and proposed interventions to improve equitable ICD uptake. Recent findings: Racially minoritized populations are disproportionately eligible for ICD therapy but are less likely to see cardiac specialists, be counseled on ICD therapy, and ultimately undergo ICD implantation, fueling disparate outcomes. Racial disparities in ICD utilization are multifactorial, with contributions at the patient, provider, health system, and structural/societal level. Summary: Racial and ethnic disparities have been demonstrated in preventing SCD with ICD use. Proposed strategies to mitigate these disparities must prioritize care delivery and access to care for racially minoritized patients, increase the diversification of clinical and implementation trial participants and the healthcare workforce, and center reparative justice frameworks to rectify a long history of racial injustice.

Association of Race and Ethnicity on the Management of Acute Non-ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction.

Background Prior studies have reported disparities by race in the management of acute myocardial infarction (MI), with many studies having limited covariates or now dated. We examined racial and ethnic differences in the management of MI, specifically non-ST-segment-elevation MI (NSTEMI), in a large, socially diverse cohort of insured patients. We hypothesized that the racial and ethnic disparities in the receipt of coronary angiography or percutaneous coronary intervention would persist in contemporary data. Methods and Results We identified individuals presenting with incident, type I NSTEMI from 2017 to 2019 captured by a health claims database. Race and ethnicity were categorized by the database as Asian, Black, Hispanic, or White. Covariates included demographics (age, sex, race, and ethnicity); Elixhauser variables, including cardiovascular risk factors and other comorbid conditions; and social factors of estimated annual household income and educational attainment. We examined rates of coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention by race and ethnicity and income categories and in multivariable-adjusted models. We identified 87 094 individuals (age 73.8±11.6 years; 55.6% male; 2.6% Asian, 13.4% Black, 11.2% Hispanic, 72.7% White) with incident NSTEMI events from 2017 to 2019. Individuals of Black race were less likely to undergo coronary angiography (odds ratio [OR], 0.93; [95% CI, 0.89-0.98]) and percutaneous coronary intervention (OR, 0.86; [95% CI, 0.81-0.90]) than those of White race. Hispanic individuals were less likely (OR, 0.88; [95% CI, 0.84-0.93]) to undergo coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention (OR, 0.85; [95% CI, 0.81-0.89]) than those of White race. Higher annual household income attenuated differences in the receipt of coronary angiography across all racial and ethnic groups. Conclusions We identified significant racial and ethnic differences in the management of individuals presenting with NSTEMI that were marginally attenuated by higher household income. Our findings suggest continued evidence of health inequities in contemporary NSTEMI treatment.

Association of patient-reported outcomes with hospitalization risk in atrial fibrillation.

BACKGROUND: Patient-reported outcomes in atrial fibrillation (AF) are increasingly used to evaluate treatment efficacy and as endpoints in clinical trials. Few studies have related patient-reported outcomes in AF to clinical events and outcomes. We examined the association between patient-reported outcomes and hospitalization risk in individuals with AF receiving care at a regional healthcare system. METHODS AND RESULTS: We related the AF Effect on QualiTy of Life (AFEQT), a validated measure (range 0-100) with higher scores indicating superior AF-specific patient-reported outcomes, to hospitalization events in a cohort with prevalent AF. We determined incidence rates for hospitalization events (all-cause, cardiac-, or AF-related) across quartiles of AFEQT scores. We used the Andersen-Gill method to account for multiple hospitalization events per individual and compared the risks of hospitalization across AFEQT quartiles in multivariable-adjusted models. In 339 individuals with AF (age 72.3 ± 10.1 years; 43% women) followed for median 2.6 years (range 0-3.4 years), we observed 417 total hospitalization events. We identified increased incidence rates of hospitalization with progressively decreased AFEQT quartile. Relative to those in the highest AFEQT quartile, individuals in the lowest AFEQT quartile had 3-fold greater risk of all-cause hospitalization (95% Confidence Interval [CI] 1.67-6.57, p < 0.001) and 5-fold greater risk of cardiac hospitalization (95% CI 1.66-13.80, p = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS: We identified a progressive association between patient-reported outcomes in AF and risk of hospitalization events. Our results underscore the relevance of patient-reported outcomes to clinical adversity and prognosis in AF.

Association of income and educational attainment in hospitalization events in atrial fibrillation.

OBJECTIVE: Social determinants contribute to adverse outcomes in cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular conditions. However, their investigation in atrial fibrillation (AF) remains limited. We examined the associations between annual income and educational attainment with risk of hospitalization in individuals with AF receiving care in a regional health care system. We hypothesized that individuals with lower income and lower education would have an increased risk of hospitalization. METHODS: We enrolled a cohort of individuals with prevalent AF from an ambulatory setting. We related annual income (≤$19,999/year; $20,000-49,000/year; $50,000-99,999/year; ≥$100,000/year) and educational attainment (high school/vocational; some college; Bachelor's; graduate) to hospitalization events in multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models, using the Andersen-Gill model to account for the potential of participants to have multiple events. RESULTS: In 339 individuals with AF (age 72.3 ± 10.1 years; 43% women) followed for median 2.6 years (range 0-3.4 years), we observed 417 hospitalization events. We identified an association between both income and educational attainment and hospitalization risk. In multivariable-adjusted analyses which included educational attainment individuals in the lowest annual income category (≤19,999/year) had 2.0-fold greater hospitalization risk than those in the highest (≥100,000/year; 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 1.08-4.09; p = 0.03). In multivariable-adjusted analyses without adjustment for income, those in the lowest educational attainment category (high school/vocational) had a 2-fold increased risk of hospitalization relative to the highest (graduate-level; 95% CI 1.12-3.54, p = 0.02). However, this association between education and events was attenuated with further adjustment for income (95% CI 0.97-3.15, p = 0.06). CONCLUSIONS: We identified relationships between income and education and prospective risk of hospitalization risk in AF. Our findings support the consideration of social determinants in evaluating and treating socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals with AF to reduce hospitalization risk.

Comparison of Circadian Variation for In-Hospital Versus Out-of-Hospital Sudden Cardiac Arrest Survivors.

Several studies have reported circadian periodicity of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). It remains unclear to what extent this circadian rhythm is influenced by variation in patients' activities. One way to elucidate this is to compare patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs) with those with in-hospital cardiac arrests (IHCAs). We therefore examined the presence of a circadian pattern of SCA in a large cohort of OHCA and IHCA survivors. A total of 1,433 consecutive survivors of SCA in the Pittsburgh area from 2002 to 2012 were included. Patient demographics, including clinical histories and details of SCA, were collected. The distribution of SCA throughout the day was tested for differences using the chi-square test. Of the 1,224 patients analyzed, 706 had IHCA and 518 OHCA. We observed a nadir of SCA in the nighttime hours between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. in both IHCA and OHCA groups (p <0.001), although this pattern was more blunted in the IHCA group. Patients who had an SCA in the nighttime window had more co-morbidities (p = 0.01). The circadian pattern was noted to be absent in patients with higher co-morbidity burden in IHCA only. In conclusion, the typical pattern of nighttime nadir in SCA is observed in patients with both OHCA and IHCA but is blunted in the hospital and especially in sicker patients. This suggests a common mechanistic pathway of SCA transcending differences in physical activities of patients and a difference in how co-morbidities interact with the timing of SCA in the inpatient setting.