While heart disease is the leading cause of death for all Americans, Black adults in the United States are significantly more likely than other racial groups to experience cardiovascular disorders and less likely to receive quality healthcare for heart disease. A new study led by Saint Louis University in Missouri has documented yet another notable racial disparity in cardiovascular treatment.
The authors examined data on over 120,000 patients aged 18 to 80 who had been diagnosed with heart failure between 2011 and 2018. Alarmingly, only 18.3 percent of these patients received palliative care consultation within 5 years after their diagnosis. Within this small subset, Black Americans were 15 percent less likely than their White counterparts to receive palliative care.
Patients of all backgrounds were more likely to receive palliative care if they were diagnosed between 2016 and 2018, experienced advanced heart failure or cardiogenic shock, had an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, or were treated at an academic medical center.
The authors believe there are several barriers to palliative care that need to be addressed at the systemic level in order to reduce these racial healthcare disparities. They suggest future research should focus on removing barriers in payment systems, educating providers on when to implement palliative care in their treatment plans, expanding outpatient palliative care options, and improving the referral and consultation process.
In addition to authors from Saint Louis University, the research team included scholars from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
