Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
2950249 Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2008 10 Pages PDF
Abstract

ObjectivesWe sought to examine the characteristics, quality of care, and clinical outcomes for a large cohort of African-American patients hospitalized with heart failure (HF) in centers participating in a quality improvement initiative.BackgroundHeart failure in African Americans is characterized by variations in natural history, lesser response to evidence-based therapies, and disparate health care. We hypothesized that a performance improvement program will achieve similar adherence to quality measures in African Americans admitted with HF compared with non–African Americans.MethodsThe OPTIMIZE-HF (Organized Program to Initiate Lifesaving Treatment in Hospitalized Patients With Heart Failure) registry-based performance-improvement program includes a pre-specified 10% subgroup with 60- to 90-day follow-up. Data on quality of care measures and outcomes were analyzed for 8,608 African-American patients compared with 38,501 non–African-American patients.ResultsAfrican Americans were significantly younger and more likely to receive evidence-based medications but less likely to receive discharge instructions and smoking cessation counseling. In multivariable analyses, African-American race was an independent predictor of lower in-hospital mortality (odds ratio 0.71; 95% confidence interval 0.57 to 0.87; p < 0.001) but similar hospital length of stay. After multivariable adjustment, post-discharge outcomes were similar for American-American and non–African-American patients, but African-American race was associated with higher angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor prescription and left ventricular function assessment; no other HF quality indicators were influenced by race.ConclusionsIn the context of a performance-improvement program, African Americans with HF received similar or better treatment with evidence-based medications, less discharge counseling, had better in-hospital survival, and similar adjusted risk of follow-up death/repeat hospital stay. (Organized Program to Initiate Lifesaving Treatment In Hospitalized Patients With Heart Failure [OPTIMIZE-HF]; NCT00344513)

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