Latinos don't get best care after heart failure

Blacks, Latinos Less Likely to Get Best Care After Heart Failure
By DiversityInc March 19, 2009

A new study suggests that Blacks and Latinos are less likely to get the most advanced treatment for severe heart failure than whites, reports HealthDay News. Although the differences were modest, the study's authors say they are significant, particularly because they can't be explained by lack of insurance or medical condition.

The study examined a total of 108,000 Black, Latino and white Medicare patients who were treated for severe heart failure between 2005 and 2007 at more than 1,000 hospitals across the country. For certain heart-failure patients, the most advanced treatment involves the use of two devices to control the condition: an implantable defibrillator to regulate heart rhythm and a special pacemaker that realigns heartbeats when the right and left ventricles get out of synch, a newer approach called "cardiac resynchronization therapy." Despite the fact that more Blacks and Latinos met the treatment guidelines for the combined therapies, they were more likely to get the defibrillator alone, according to the report. White patients were more likely to get both therapies, even when they did not meet the treatment guidelines. According to the study, 79 percent of whites that were eligible for the combined treatment got it, while only 77 percent of Blacks and 75 percent of Latinos received both treatments.

The study also noted that more than a quarter of all deaths among Blacks and Latinos in 2005 were the result of heart disease, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, making it the No. 1 killer for these groups.