title: Association of Race With Mortality and Cardiovascular Events in a Large Cohort of US Veterans.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In the general population, blacks experience higher mortality than their white peers, attributed in part to their lower socioeconomic status, reduced access to care, and possibly intrinsic biological factors. Patients with kidney disease are a notable exception, among whom blacks experience lower mortality. It is unclear if similar differences affecting outcomes exist in patients with no kidney disease but with equal or similar access to health care.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We compared all-cause mortality, incident coronary heart disease, and incident ischemic stroke using multivariable-adjusted Cox models in a nationwide cohort of 547 441 black and 2 525 525 white patients with baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate ≥ 60 mL·min⁻¹·1.73 m⁻² receiving care from the US Veterans Health Administration. In parallel analyses, we compared outcomes in black versus white individuals in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999 to 2004. After multivariable adjustments in veterans, black race was associated with 24% lower all-cause mortality (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.76; 95% confidence interval, 0.75-0.77; P<0.001) and 37% lower incidence of coronary heart disease (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.63; 95% confidence interval, 0.62-0.65; P<0.001) but a similar incidence of ischemic stroke (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.99; 95% confidence interval, 0.97-1.01; P=0.3). Black race was associated with a 42% higher adjusted mortality among individuals with estimated glomerular filtration rate ≥ 60 mL·min⁻¹·1.73 m⁻² in NHANES (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.42; 95% confidence interval, 1.09-1.87).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Black veterans with normal estimated glomerular filtration rate and equal access to healthcare have lower all-cause mortality and incidence of coronary heart disease and a similar incidence of ischemic stroke. These associations are in contrast to the higher mortality experienced by black individuals in the general US population.
authors.affiliation: From Nephrology Section, Memphis VA Medical Center, TN (C.P.K.); Division of Nephrology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis (C.P.K., J.L.L., M.Z.M.); Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (K.C.N.); Department of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC (L.E.B.); Department of Public Health Sciences and Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville (J.Z.M.); and Harold Simmons Center for Chronic Disease Research and Epidemiology, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, University of California-Irvine, Orange (E.S., K.K.-Z.). ckovesdy@uthsc.edu.
authors.forename: Csaba P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Kovesdy
authors.affiliation: From Nephrology Section, Memphis VA Medical Center, TN (C.P.K.); Division of Nephrology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis (C.P.K., J.L.L., M.Z.M.); Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (K.C.N.); Department of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC (L.E.B.); Department of Public Health Sciences and Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville (J.Z.M.); and Harold Simmons Center for Chronic Disease Research and Epidemiology, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, University of California-Irvine, Orange (E.S., K.K.-Z.).
authors.forename: Keith C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Norris
authors.affiliation: From Nephrology Section, Memphis VA Medical Center, TN (C.P.K.); Division of Nephrology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis (C.P.K., J.L.L., M.Z.M.); Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (K.C.N.); Department of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC (L.E.B.); Department of Public Health Sciences and Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville (J.Z.M.); and Harold Simmons Center for Chronic Disease Research and Epidemiology, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, University of California-Irvine, Orange (E.S., K.K.-Z.).
authors.forename: L Ebony
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Boulware
authors.affiliation: From Nephrology Section, Memphis VA Medical Center, TN (C.P.K.); Division of Nephrology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis (C.P.K., J.L.L., M.Z.M.); Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (K.C.N.); Department of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC (L.E.B.); Department of Public Health Sciences and Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville (J.Z.M.); and Harold Simmons Center for Chronic Disease Research and Epidemiology, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, University of California-Irvine, Orange (E.S., K.K.-Z.).
authors.forename: Jun L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: From Nephrology Section, Memphis VA Medical Center, TN (C.P.K.); Division of Nephrology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis (C.P.K., J.L.L., M.Z.M.); Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (K.C.N.); Department of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC (L.E.B.); Department of Public Health Sciences and Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville (J.Z.M.); and Harold Simmons Center for Chronic Disease Research and Epidemiology, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, University of California-Irvine, Orange (E.S., K.K.-Z.).
authors.forename: Jennie Z
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: From Nephrology Section, Memphis VA Medical Center, TN (C.P.K.); Division of Nephrology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis (C.P.K., J.L.L., M.Z.M.); Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (K.C.N.); Department of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC (L.E.B.); Department of Public Health Sciences and Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville (J.Z.M.); and Harold Simmons Center for Chronic Disease Research and Epidemiology, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, University of California-Irvine, Orange (E.S., K.K.-Z.).
authors.forename: Elani
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Streja
authors.affiliation: From Nephrology Section, Memphis VA Medical Center, TN (C.P.K.); Division of Nephrology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis (C.P.K., J.L.L., M.Z.M.); Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (K.C.N.); Department of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC (L.E.B.); Department of Public Health Sciences and Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville (J.Z.M.); and Harold Simmons Center for Chronic Disease Research and Epidemiology, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, University of California-Irvine, Orange (E.S., K.K.-Z.).
authors.forename: Miklos Z
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Molnar
authors.affiliation: From Nephrology Section, Memphis VA Medical Center, TN (C.P.K.); Division of Nephrology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis (C.P.K., J.L.L., M.Z.M.); Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (K.C.N.); Department of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC (L.E.B.); Department of Public Health Sciences and Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville (J.Z.M.); and Harold Simmons Center for Chronic Disease Research and Epidemiology, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, University of California-Irvine, Orange (E.S., K.K.-Z.).
authors.forename: Kamyar
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kalantar-Zadeh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044383:Black People; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000401:mortality; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D005919:Glomerular Filtration Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D020521:Stroke / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000401:mortality; D014728:Veterans; D044465:White People
keywords: cohort studies; continental population groups; coronary disease; mortality; stroke