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J. Cardiothorac. Vasc. Anesth. · May 2023
Observational StudyThe Impact of COVID-19 on Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Cardiac Procedural Care.
- Michael Tien, Louis A Saddic, Jacques P Neelankavil, Richard J Shemin, and Tiffany M Williams.
- Division of Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology, Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA.
- J. Cardiothorac. Vasc. Anesth. 2023 May 1; 37 (5): 732747732-747.
ObjectiveThe primary objective of this study was to evaluate whether the COVID-19 pandemic altered the racial and ethnic composition of patients receiving cardiac procedural care.DesignThis was a retrospective observational study.SettingThis study was conducted at a single tertiary-care university hospital.ParticipantsA total of 1,704 adult patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) (n = 413), coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) (n = 506), or atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation (n = 785) from March 2019 through March 2022 were included in this study.InterventionsNo interventions were performed as this was a retrospective observational study.Measurements And Main ResultsPatients were grouped based on the date of their procedure: pre-COVID (March 2019 to February 2020), COVID Year 1 (March 2020 to February 2021), and COVID Year 2 (March 2021 to March 2022). Population-adjusted procedural incidence rates during each period were examined and stratified based on race and ethnicity. The procedural incidence rate was higher for White patients versus Black, and non-Hispanic patients versus Hispanic patients for every procedure and every period. For TAVR, the difference in procedural rates between White patients versus Black patients decreased between the pre-COVID and COVID Year 1 (12.05-6.34 per 1,000,000 persons). For CABG, the difference in procedural rates between White patients versus Black, and non-Hispanic patients versus Hispanic patients did not change significantly. For AF ablations, the difference in procedural rates between White patients versus Black patients increased over time (13.06 to 21.55 to 29.64 per 1,000,000 persons in the pre-COVID, COVID Year 1, and COVID Year 2, respectively).ConclusionRacial and ethnic disparities in access to cardiac procedural care were present throughout all study time periods at the authors' institution. Their findings reinforce the continuing need for initiatives to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare. Further studies are needed to fully elucidate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare access and delivery.Published by Elsevier Inc.
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