Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Background Although guidelines recommend statins with a high level of evidence for 4 primary prevention benefit groups, prescribing disparities still exist. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of race on statin prescribing for primary prevention. Methods and Results A retrospective cohort analysis of patients within a large academic health system was performed to investigate statin prescribing among primary prevention groups. The statin benefits groups were patients diagnosed with diabetes mellitus, with an low‐density lipoprotein ≥190 mg/ dL , or with an atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease ( ASCVD ) 10‐year risk ≥7.5%. Statin prescribing was 20% in the ASCVD ≥7.5% group, followed by 37.8% in the low‐density lipoprotein ≥190 mg/ dL group and 40.5% in the diabetes mellitus group. Blacks were less likely to be prescribed a statin compared with whites in the diabetes mellitus (odds ratio, 0.64; 95% CI , 0.49–0.82; P =0.001) and ASCVD ≥7.5% groups (odds ratio, 0.38; 95% CI , 0.26–0.54; P <0.0001). Blacks 60 to 69 years of age (odds ratio, 7.97; 95% CI , 3.14–20.2; P =0.003) and 70 to 79 years of age (odds ratio, 4.21; 95% CI , 1.81–9.79; P =0.008) were more likely to be prescribed a statin compared with blacks <60 years of age in the ASCVD ≥7.5% group. Conclusions Blacks are less likely to be prescribed statins in diabetes mellitus and ASCVD ≥7.5% groups compared with whites. Younger blacks with ASCVD risk ≥7.5% are less likely to be prescribed statins compared with older blacks. Future research should focus on tailored interventions to address statin prescribing disparities in blacks.
Dorsch et al. (Mon,) studied this question.