Racial Disparities Persist in Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery

Racial disparities, even when confounding factors are accounted for, are again demonstrated in a large patient database.

In studies from the 2000s, black race was a predictor of adverse outcomes after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Now, investigators have evaluated procedural outcomes in 11,697 blacks and 136,362 whites undergoing CABG from January 2010 through June 2011 at 663 centers participating in a demographically and socioeconomically diverse, national database from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons.

Black patients undergoing CABG were younger than white patients but had more comorbidities and adverse baseline risks. Black patients were also more likely to be treated at hospitals with higher risk-adjusted mortality and less likely to undergo internal mammary artery [IMA] grafting than whites (92.2% vs. 93.3%).

In unadjusted analyses, mortality wa…

Reviewing Author

Karol E. Watson, MD, PhD, FACC

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardBoehringer Ingelheim; Amgen; Novartis; Lilly; Amarin

Speaker’s BureauBoehringer Ingelheim

Grant/Research SupportNIH

Editorial BoardsCirculation (Associate Editor)