• Mauricio G Cohen, Matthew T Roe, Jyotsna Mulgund, Eric D Peterson, Ali F Sonel, Venu Menon, Sidney C Smith, Jorge F Saucedo, Barbara L Lytle, Charles V Pollack, Luis Garza, W Brian Gibler, and E Magnus Ohman.
• Division of Cardiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7075, USA. mgcohen@med.unc.edu
• Am. Heart J. 2006 Jul 1; 152 (1): 110-7.

BackgroundData regarding the management of non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes (NSTE ACS) in Hispanic patients, the largest and fastest-growing minority in the United States, are scarce.MethodsWe sought to describe the clinical characteristics, process of care, and outcomes of Hispanics presenting with NSTE ACS at US hospitals. We compared baseline characteristics, resource use, and inhospital mortality among 3936 Hispanics and 90280 non-Hispanic whites with NSTE ACS from the CRUSADE Quality Improvement Initiative.ResultsThe regional distribution of Hispanics in CRUSADE paralleled that in the US Census. Hispanics were younger (65 vs 70 years, P < .0001) and had less hyperlipidemia (45.4% vs 49.0%, P < .0001) but were more likely to be hypertensive (72.2% vs 67.9%, P < .0001) and diabetic (46.5% vs 30.9%, P < .0001). Hispanics were also more likely to be uninsured (12.5% vs 5.1%, P < .001). During hospitalization, Hispanics were more often managed conservatively, undergoing stress tests more frequently (13.0% vs 10.1%, P < .0001), with less use of cardiac catheterization within 48 hours (48.7% vs 55.5%, P < .0001) or percutaneous coronary intervention (39.6% vs 46.4%, P < .0001) at any time. Hispanics received similar discharge treatments but were less frequently referred for cardiac rehabilitation (38.5% vs 49.2%, P < .0001). Adjusted inhospital mortality was similar in both groups (odds ratio 0.87, 95% CI 0.72-1.05).ConclusionsAlthough hispanics have a different risk factor profile and are treated less aggressively during hospitalization when they present with NSTE ACS, these treatment differences do not appear to affect inhospital outcomes. Further research is warranted to explore the long-term consequences of these findings.

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