Racial and ethnic differences in time to acute reperfusion therapy for patients hospitalized with myocardial infarction.
BACKGROUND
Nonwhite patients experience significantly longer times to fibrinolytic therapy (door-to-drug times) and percutaneous coronary intervention (door-to-balloon times) than white patients, raising concerns of health care disparities, but the reasons for these patterns are poorly understood.


OBJECTIVE
To estimate race/ethnicity differences in door-to-drug and door-to-balloon times for patients receiving primary reperfusion for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction; to examine how sociodemographic factors, insurance status, clinical characteristics, and hospital features mediate racial/ethnic differences.


METHODS
Retrospective, observational study using admission and treatment data from the National Registry of Myocardial Infarction (NRMI) for a US cohort of patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction or left bundle-branch block and receiving reperfusion therapy. Patients (73,032 receiving fibrinolytic therapy; 37,143 receiving primary percutaneous coronary intervention) were admitted from January 1, 1999, through December 31, 2002, to hospitals participating in NRMI 3 and 4.


METHODS
Minutes between hospital arrival and acute reperfusion therapy.


RESULTS
Door-to-drug times were significantly longer for patients identified as African American/black (41.1 minutes), Hispanic (36.1 minutes), and Asian/Pacific Islander (37.4 minutes), compared with patients identified as white (33.8 minutes) (P<.01 for all). Door-to-balloon times for patients identified as African American/black (122.3 minutes) or Hispanic (114.8 minutes) were significantly longer than for patients identified as white (103.4 minutes) (P<.001 for both). Racial/ethnic differences were still significant but were substantially reduced after accounting for differences in mean times to treatment for the hospitals in which patients were treated; significant racial/ethnic differences persisted after further adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics, insurance status, and clinical and hospital characteristics (P<.01 for all).


CONCLUSIONS
A substantial portion of the racial/ethnic disparity in time to treatment was accounted for by the specific hospital to which patients were admitted, in contrast to differential treatment by race/ethnicity inside the hospital.
Section of Health Policy and Administration, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn 06520-8088, USA.
Elizabeth H
EH
Bradley
Jeph
J
Herrin
Yongfei
Y
Wang
Robert L
RL
McNamara
Tashonna R
TR
Webster
David J
DJ
Magid
Martha
M
Blaney
Eric D
ED
Peterson
John G
JG
Canto
Charles V
CV
Pollack
Harlan M
HM
Krumholz
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015906:Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D044383:Black People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006761:Hospitals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007350:Insurance, Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000628:therapy*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D015912:Thrombolytic Therapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013997:Time Factors; D013996:Time and Motion Studies; D014481:United States; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001741:Black or African American