Barriers to Healthcare Access and to Improvements in Health-Related Quality of Life After an Acute Coronary Syndrome (From TRACE-CORE)

Little is known about how barriers to healthcare access affect health-related quality of life (HRQOL) after an acute coronary syndrome (ACS). In a large cohort of ACS survivors from 6 medical centers in Massachusetts and Georgia enrolled from 2011 to 2013, patients were classified as having any financial barriers, no usual source of care (USOC), or transportation barriers to healthcare based on their questionnaire survey responses. The principal study outcomes included clinically meaningful declines in generic physical and mental HRQOL and in disease-specific HRQOL from 1 to 6 months posthospital discharge. Adjusted relative risks (aRRs) for declines in HRQOL were calculated using Poisson regression models, controlling for several sociodemographic and clinical factors of prognostic importance. In 1,053 ACS survivors, 29.0% had a financial barrier, 14.2% had no USOC, and 8.7% had a transportation barrier. Patients with a financial barrier had greater risks of experiencing a decline in generic physical (aRR 1.48, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.17, 1.86) and mental (aRR 1.36, 95% CI 1.07, 1.75) HRQOL at 6 months. Patients with 2 or more access barriers had greater risks of decline in generic physical (aRR 1.53, 95% CI 1.20, 1.93) and mental (aRR 1.50, 95% CI 1.17, 1.93) HRQOL compared with those without any healthcare barriers. There was a modest association between lacking a USOC and experiencing a decline in disease-specific HRQOL (aRR 1.46, 95% CI 0.96, 2.22). Financial and other barriers to healthcare access may be associated with clinically meaningful declines in HRQOL after hospital discharge for an ACS.