Stacie L. Daugherty

An Investigation of Associations Between Clinicians’ Ethnic or Racial Bias and Hypertension Treatment, Medication Adherence and Blood Pressure Control

ABSTRACTBACKGROUNDFew studies have directly investigated the association of clinicians’ implicit (unconscious) bias with health care disparities in clinical settings.OBJECTIVETo determine if clinicians’ implicit ethnic or racial bias is associated with processes and outcomes of treatment for hypertension among black and Latino patients, relative to white patients.RESEARCH DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTSPrimary care clinicians completed Implicit Association Tests of ethnic and racial bias. Electronic medical records were queried for a stratified, random sample of the clinicians’ black, Latino and white patients to assess treatment intensification, adherence and control of hypertension. Multilevel random coefficient models assessed the associations between clinicians’ implicit biases and ethnic or racial differences in hypertension care and outcomes.MAIN MEASURESStandard measures of treatment intensification and medication adherence were calculated from pharmacy refills. Hypertension control was assessed by the percentage of time that patients met blood pressure goals recorded during primary care visits.KEY RESULTSOne hundred and thirty-eight primary care clinicians and 4,794 patients with hypertension participated. Black patients received equivalent treatment intensification, but had lower medication adherence and worse hypertension control than white patients; Latino patients received equivalent treatment intensification and had similar hypertension control, but lower medication adherence than white patients. Differences in treatment intensification, medication adherence and hypertension control were unrelated to clinician implicit bias for black patients (Pu2009=u20090.85, Pu2009=u20090.06 and Pu2009=u20090.31, respectively) and for Latino patients (Pu2009=u20090.55, Pu2009=u20090.40 and Pu2009=u20090.79, respectively). An increase in clinician bias from average to strong was associated with a relative change of less than 5xa0% in all outcomes for black and Latino patients.CONCLUSIONSImplicit bias did not affect clinicians’ provision of care to their minority patients, nor did it affect the patients’ outcomes. The identification of health care contexts in which bias does not impact outcomes can assist both patients and clinicians in their efforts to build trust and partnership.

Geriatric Conditions in Patients Undergoing Defibrillator Implantation for Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death Prevalence and Impact on Mortality

Background—Geriatric conditions may influence outcomes among patients receiving implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs). We sought to determine the prevalence of frailty and dementia among older adults receiving primary prevention ICDs and to determine the impact of multimorbidity on mortality within 1 year of ICD implantation. Methods and Results—The cohort included 83 792 Medicare patients from the National Cardiovascular Data Registry ICD Registry who underwent first primary prevention ICD implantation between 2006 and 2009. These data were merged with Medicare analytic files to determine the prevalence of frailty, dementia, and other conditions before ICD implantation, as well as 1-year mortality. A validated claim-based algorithm was used to identify frail patients. Mutually exclusive patterns of chronic conditions were examined. The association of each pattern with 1-year mortality was assessed using logistic regression models adjusted for selected patient characteristics. Approximately 1 in 10 Medicare patients with heart failure receiving a primary prevention ICD had frailty (10%) or dementia (1%). One-year mortality was 22% for patients with frailty, 27% for patients with dementia, and 12% in the overall cohort. Several multimorbidity patterns were associated with high 1-year mortality rates: dementia with frailty (29%), frailty with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (25%), and frailty with diabetes mellitus (23%). These patterns were present in 8% of the cohort. Conclusions—More than 10% of Medicare beneficiaries with heart failure receiving primary prevention ICDs have frailty or dementia. These patients had significantly higher 1-year mortality than those with other common chronic conditions. Frailty and dementia should be considered in clinical decision-making and guideline development.

The Affordable Care Act Medicaid Expansion Correlated With Increased Heart Transplant Listings in African-Americans But Not Hispanics or Caucasians

OBJECTIVESnThe aim of this study was to determine if the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid Expansion was associated with increased census-adjusted heart transplant listing rates for racial/ethnic minorities.nnnBACKGROUNDnUnderinsurance limits access to transplants, especially among racial/ethnic minorities. Changes in racial/ethnic listing rates post-ACA Medicaid Expansion are unknown.nnnMETHODSnUsing the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, we analyzed 5,651 patients from early adopter states (implemented the ACA Medicaid Expansion by January 2014) and 4,769 patients from non-adopter states (no implementation during the study period) from 2012 to 2015. Piecewise linear models, stratified according to race/ethnicity, were fit to monthly census-adjusted rates of heart transplant listings before and after Januaryxa02014.nnnRESULTSnA significant 30% increase in the rate of heart transplant listings for African-American patients in early adopter states occurred immediately after the ACA Medicaid Expansion on January 1, 2014 (before 0.15 to after 0.20/100,000; increase 0.05/100,000; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.01 to 0.08); in contrast, the rates for African-American patients in non-adopter states remained constant (before and after 0.15/100,000; increase 0.006/100,000; 95% CI: -0.03 to 0.04). Hispanic patients experienced an opposite trend, with no significant change in early adopter states (before 0.03 to after 0.04/100,000; increase 0.01/100,000; 95% CI: -0.004 to 0.02) and a significant increase in non-adopter states (before 0.03 to after 0.05/100,000; increase 0.02/100,000; 95% CI: 0.002 to 0.03). There were no significant changes in listing rates among Caucasian patients in either early adopter states or non-adopter states.nnnCONCLUSIONSnImplementation of the ACA Medicaid Expansion was associated with increased heart transplant listings in African-American patients but not in Hispanic or Caucasian patients. Broadening of the ACA in states with large African-American populations may reduce disparities in heart transplant listings.

Long-Term Survival Trends of Medicare Patients After In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: Insights from Get With The Guidelines-Resuscitation ®

BACKGROUNDnAlthough rates of survival to hospital discharge after in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) have improved over the last decade, it is unknown if these survival gains are sustained after hospital discharge.nnnOBJECTIVEnTo examine 1-year survival trends overall and by rhythm after IHCA.nnnMETHODSnUsing Medicare beneficiaries (age≥65years) with IHCA occurring between 2000 and 2011 at Get With The Guidelines®-Resuscitation Registry participating hospitals we used multivariable regression, to examine temporal trends in risk-adjusted rates of 1-year survival.nnnRESULTSnAmong 45,567 patients with IHCA, the unadjusted 1-year survival was 9.4%. Unadjusted 1-year survival was 21.8% among the 9,223 (20.2%) of patients with Ventricular Fibrillation or Pulseless Ventricular Tachycardia (VF/VT) and 6.2% among the 36,344 (79.8%) of patients with Pulseless Electrical Activity or asystole (PEA/asystole). After adjustment for patient and arrest characteristics, 1-year survival increased over time for all IHCA from 8.9% in 2000-2001 to 15.2% in 2011 (adjusted rate ratio [RR] per year, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.03-1.06; P<0.001 for trend). Improvements in 1-year risk adjusted survival were also observed for VF/VT (19.4% in 2000-2001 to 25.6% in 2011 [RR per year, 1.02; 95% CI, 1.01-1.04; P 0.004 for trend]) and PEA/asystole arrests (4.7% in 2000-2001 to 10.2% in 2011 [RR per year, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.05-1.08; P<0.001 for trend]).nnnCONCLUSIONnAmong Medicare beneficiaries in the GWTG-Resuscitation registry, 1-year survival after IHCA has increased for over the past decade. Temporal improvements in survival were noted for both shockable and non-shockable presenting arrest rhythms.

Implicit Gender Bias and the Use of Cardiovascular Tests Among Cardiologists

Background Physicians gender bias may contribute to gender disparities in cardiovascular testing. We used the Implicit Association Test to examine the association of implicit gender biases with decisions to use cardiovascular tests. Methods and Results In 2014, cardiologists completed Implicit Association Tests and a clinical vignette with patient gender randomly assigned. The Implicit Association Tests measured implicit gender bias for the characteristics of strength and risk taking. The vignette represented an intermediate likelihood of coronary artery disease regardless of patient gender: chest pain (part 1) followed by an abnormal exercise treadmill test (part 2). Cardiologists rated the likelihood of coronary artery disease and the usefulness of stress testing and angiography for the assigned patient. Of the 503 respondents (9.3% of eligible; 87% male, median age of 45 years, 58% in private practice), the majority associated strength or risk taking implicitly with male more than female patients. The estimated likelihood of coronary artery disease for both parts of the vignette was similar by patient gender. The utility of secondary stress testing after an abnormal exercise treadmill test was rated as “high” more often for female than male patients (32.8% versus 24.3%, P=0.04); this difference did not vary with implicit bias. Angiography was more consistently rated as having “high” utility for male versus female patients (part 1: 19.7% versus 9.8%; part 2: 73.7% versus 64.3%; P<0.05 for both); this difference was larger for cardiologists with higher implicit gender bias on risk taking (P=0.01). Conclusions Cardiologists have varying degrees of implicit gender bias. This bias explained some, but not all, of the gender variability in simulated clinical decision‐making for suspected coronary artery disease.