“The variables that may contribute to the greater cardiovascular risks in minorities are multifactorial,” senior author Gregg W. Stone, MD, a professor of cardiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, said in a prepared statement from the American College of Cardiology. “The variables include risk factors (e.g., greater hypertension, smoking and diabetes, and differences in body mass index), differences in cardiac structure (e.g., coronary artery size and left ventricular mass) and socioeconomic considerations (e.g., reduced access to care and/or insurance coverage, lack of preventative care, disease awareness and education, delayed presentation when ill, and in some studies varying provision of care).” 

Stone also emphasized that there is potential to improve such racial disparities—but it will take a lot of time, energy and focus from a wide variety of stakeholders.  

“I am inherently optimistic, and I am hopeful that the increased societal attention to racial disparities prompted by recent social injustices will translate to improve health care and outcomes for minorities,” he said “But it won't just happen without active concerted efforts to promote change and opportunity, a task for government, regulators, payors, hospital administrators, physicians and all health care providers.”

The researchers did note that their study had certain limitations. The sample sizes for Black and Hispanic patients, for example, were quite small. In addition, they noted, “our dataset does not include information on time to invasive therapy or medical treatment assignment and compliance, nor can it entirely adjust for uncaptured socioeconomic factors.”

The full JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions study is available here.