Racial Disparity Among Patients Undergoing Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement and Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement in the United States

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has emerged as a minimally invasive alternative to surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). However, racial disparities in the utilization of TAVR persist. This meta-analysis attempts to determine whether the prevalence of adverse outcomes (procedure-related complications) represent barriers to the use of TAVR among African Americans (AA). The TAVR cohort consisted of 89.6% Caucasian (C) and 4.7% AA, while the SAVR cohort included 86.9% C and 6.4% AA. The utilization rate (UR) of TAVR was 1.48 and .35 among C and AA, respectively, while the UR of SAVR was 1.44 and .48 among C and AA, respectively. Following TAVR, for AA the odds ratio (OR) was greater for stroke (OR = 1.22, P = .02) and transient ischemic attack (TIA) (OR = 1.57, P < .001) and lower for undergoing the insertion of a permanent pacemaker (OR = .81, P < .001). While there was a significant difference between C and AA in TAVR and SAVR utilization, outcomes between groups following TAVR are comparable; therefore, adverse outcomes do not appear to be a barrier to the use of TAVR among eligible AA.