• Gregory A Phelps, Yanru Qiao, Merrion G Buckley, Junling Wang, Minghui Sam Li, Soumitra S Bhuyan, and Marie A Chisholm-Burns.
• University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy, 881 Madison Avenue, Memphis, TN, 38163, USA.
• Res Social Adm Pharm. 2020 Apr 1; 16 (4): 544-552.

BackgroundSignificant racial and ethnic disparities in statin prescribing and utilization have been constantly documented.ObjectiveTo examine whether racial/ethnic disparities in statin treatment have decreased among the diabetic population after the release of the 2013 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) guidelines.MethodsThis retrospective study analyzed patients with diabetes aged 40-75 years old in the Medicare Expenditure Panel Survey (2011-2012 and 2014-2015). Racial and ethnic disparities in the likelihood of statin use and number of statin prescriptions were compared before and after the guideline release. Logistic and negative binomial regressions were used to adjust for patient characteristics. A difference-in-difference model (DID) was used to examine disparity changes.ResultsThis study included 2584 patients from 2011 to 2012 and 2610 from 2014 to 2015. During 2011-2012, racial/ethnic disparities were significant for the likelihood of statin use. For the number of statin prescriptions, racial disparity was significant, but not for the ethnic disparity. During 2014-2015, racial/ethnic disparities were significant for the likelihood of statin use but were not significant for the number of statin prescriptions. The DID model found that the 2013 guidelines were not associated with a reduction in racial and ethnic disparities in statin treatment.ConclusionsThis study found persistent disparities in the likelihood of statin use. The 2013 ACC/AHA guidelines were not associated with a reduction in racial and ethnic disparities in statin treatment.Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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