Black Individuals Receive Good Care for Heart Failure

Quality of care and outcomes similar or better than those for nonblacks

TUESDAY, April 22 (HealthDay News) -- Black individuals hospitalized for heart failure have similar or better quality of care and outcomes than nonblacks, according to a study in the April 29 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Clyde W. Yancy, M.D., of Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas and colleagues analyzed data on quality of care and outcomes for 8,608 black patients hospitalized with heart failure and 38,501 nonblack patients with heart failure.

The researchers found that the black patients were significantly younger, more likely to receive evidence-based medications, and less likely to receive discharge instructions and smoking cessation counseling. Black patients had significantly lower in-hospital mortality (odds ratio 0.71) but similar length of hospital stay. Post-discharge outcomes were similar for the two groups. However, blacks had higher angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor prescription and left ventricular function assessment.

"In the context of a performance-improvement program, African Americans with HF (heart failure) received similar or better treatment with evidence-based medications, less discharge counseling, had better in-hospital survival, and similar adjusted risk of follow-up death/repeat hospital stay," Yancy and colleagues conclude.

Several authors reported financial relationships to the pharmaceutical industry.

Abstract
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