Racial and ethnic differences in the use of cardiovascular procedures: findings from the California Cooperative Cardiovascular Project

OBJECTIVES: This study used data from the California Cooperative Cardiovascular Project to examine the use of invasive and noninvasive cardiovascular procedures among Whites, African Americans, and Hispanics. METHODS: The use of catheterization, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, and several noninvasive tests among all patients 65 years or older with a confirmed acute myocardial infarction in nonfederal hospitals from 1994 to 1995 was studied. RESULTS: African Americans (n = 527) were less likely than Whites (n = 9489) to have received catheterization (adjusted odds ratio OR = 0.62, 95% confidence interval CI = 0.50, 0.76), PTCA (OR = 0.64, 95% CI = 0.49, 0.85), or CABG surgery (OR = 0.42, 95% CI = 0.27, 0.64); somewhat more likely to have received a stress test or an echocardiogram; and equally likely to have received a multiple-gated acquisition scan. Hispanics (n = 689) also were less likely than Whites to have received catheterization (OR = 0.82, 95% CI = 0.68, 0.98) or PTCA (OR = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.45, 0.75). CONCLUSIONS: African Americans were less likely than Whites to undergo costly invasive cardiovascular procedures. In addition, Hispanics were less likely than Whites to have received catheterization and PTCA.