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Survival to discharge after in-hospital cardiac arrest provides a useful test case for exploring racial disparities in medical care: Patients already are hospitalized, and interventions are relatively standard. Researchers enrolled 10,011 patients (19% black) with ventricular fibrillation or pulseless ventricular tachycardia who were treated in 274 hospitals.
On average, black patients were younger, were more likely to have chronic diseases, and were more likely to be admitted to large teaching hospitals than white patients. Overall, survival to discharge was less likely for blacks (25% vs. 37%); this difference reflected a 27% relative reduction in survival, in an analysis of estimated effects across hospitals. The relative difference in su…