September 16, 2009
Black Patients Experience Worse In-hospital Cardiac Care, Lower Chances Of Survival
Medical News Today hightlights a new study published in the September 16th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. This study points to significant disparities in the rates of successful resuscitation for black patients, making them less likely to survive an in-hospital cardiac arrest compared to white patients.
Lead author Paul S. Chan, M.D., MSc., cardiologist at St. Luke's Mid-America Heart Institute points to a a 12 percent lower overall rate of surviving a cardiac arrest for black patients. The reason for the lower survival rate points to the quality of the hospitals.
"The differences in survival by race actually appeared to have more to do with the hospitals than the patients themselves. Potential racial differences in access to care or preferences have been used to explain disparities in treatments and patient outcomes. But these are not likely to influence treatment in cardiac arrests since patients were already in the hospital and care of these patients is pretty clear" states Chan.
Read more of the post on Medical News Today, or take a look at the article in the Journal of the American Medical Association.