Smaller Racial Gap in Survival After In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

Drop in survival differences due to elimination of racial differences in acute resuscitation survival
patient on stretcher
patient on stretcher

THURSDAY, Aug. 10, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- There has been a considerable reduction in racial differences in survival after in-hospital cardiac arrest, according to a study published online Aug. 9 in JAMA Cardiology.

Lee Joseph, M.D., from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine in Iowa City, and colleagues examined racial differences in survival after in-hospital cardiac arrest in a cohort of patients from Get With the Guidelines-Resuscitation. Data were included for 112,139 patients (27.0 percent black and 73.0 percent white).

The researchers observed improvement in the risk-adjusted survival from 2000 to 2014 in black (11.3 to 21.4 percent) and white (15.8 to 23.2 percent) patients (P for trend < 0.001 for both). On an absolute and relative scale, the greatest survival improvement was seen among black patients. Elimination of racial differences in acute resuscitation survival explained the reduction in survival differences between black and white patients (black individuals: 44.7 and 64.1 percent in 2000 and 2014, respectively; white individuals: 47.1 and 64.0 percent in 2000 and 2014, respectively; P for interaction < 0.001). Larger survival gains over time were seen at hospitals with a higher proportion of black patients with in-hospital cardiac arrest versus hospitals with fewer black patients.

"Further understanding of the mechanisms of this improvement could provide novel insights for the elimination of racial differences in survival for other conditions," the authors write.

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