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The Current State of Ethnic and Racial Disparities in Cardiovascular Care: Lessons from the Past and Opportunities for the Future

  • Public Health Policy (NK Choudhry, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Significant racial/ethnic disparities have been documented in cardiovascular care. Although health care quality is improving for many Americans, differences in clinical outcomes have persisted between racial/ethnic minority patients and non-minorities, even when income, education level, and site of care are taken into consideration. Potential causes of disparities are complex and are related to differences in risk factor prevalence and control, use of evidence-based procedures and medications, and social and environmental factors. Minority patients are more likely to receive care from lower-quality health care providers and institutions and experience more barriers to accessing care. Factors such as stereotyping and bias in medicine are hard to quantify, but likely contribute to differences in treatment. Recent trends suggest that some disparities are decreasing. Opportunities for change and improvement exist for patients, providers, and health care systems. Promising interventions, such as health policy changes, quality improvement programs, and culturally targeted community and clinic-based interventions offer hope that high-quality health care in the USA can be provided to all patients.

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Conflict of Interest

Jennifer Lewey declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Niteesh K. Choudhry has been a consultant for Mercer Health and Benefits and has received unrestricted grants from CVS Caremark, Aetna, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Commonwealth Fund.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 1620 Tremont Street, Suite 3030, Boston, MA, 02120, USA

    Jennifer Lewey & Niteesh K. Choudhry

  2. Department of Cardiology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    Jennifer Lewey

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  1. Jennifer Lewey
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  2. Niteesh K. Choudhry
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Correspondence to Niteesh K. Choudhry.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Public Health Policy

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Lewey, J., Choudhry, N.K. The Current State of Ethnic and Racial Disparities in Cardiovascular Care: Lessons from the Past and Opportunities for the Future. Curr Cardiol Rep 16, 530 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11886-014-0530-3

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