Minority Health and Health Equity Archive

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/21769

Welcome to the Minority Health and Health Equity Archive (MHHEA), an electronic archive for digital resource materials in the fields of minority health and health disparities research and policy. It is offered as a no-charge resource to the public, academic scholars and health science researchers interested in the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities.

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  • Item
    Ethnic Disparities in Blood Pressure Management in Patients With Hypertension After the Introduction of Pay for Performance
    (2008) Millett, Christopher; Gray, Jeremy; Bottle, Alex; Majeed, Azeem
    PURPOSE Little is known about the impact of pay-for-performance incentives on health care disparities. We examined ethnic disparities in the management of hypertension among patients with and without cardiovascular comorbidities after the implementation of a major pay-for-performance incentive scheme in UK primary care. METHODS We undertook a population-based, cross-sectional survey of medication prescriptions and blood pressure control among patients with hypertension using electronic medical records from 16 family practices in southwest London. RESULTS Black patients with hypertension were signifi cantly less likely to achieve an established treatment target for blood pressure control than white or South Asian patients (adjusted odds ratio, 0.86; 95% confi dence interval, 0.74-0.99). The prevalence of cardiovascular comorbidities was higher among South Asian patients with hypertension than among their white or black counterparts (41.3% vs 28.5% vs 28.8%). The presence of 2 or more cardiovascular comorbidities was associated with signifi cantly improved blood pressure control among white patients but not among black or South Asian patients (mean systolic blood pressure, −9.4 mm Hg, −0.6 mm Hg, and −1.8 mm Hg, respectively). South Asian patients with poorly controlled hypertension were prescribed fewer antihypertensive medications than their black or white peers (adjusted odds ratio, 0.66; 95% confi dence interval, 0.46-0.96). CONCLUSIONS Ethnic disparities in the management of hypertension have persisted in the United Kingdom despite major investment in quality improvement initiatives, including pay for performance. These disparities are particularly marked among patients with multiple cardiovascular conditions.
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    Racial Differences in 30-Day Mortality for Pulmonary Embolism
    (2006) Ibrahim, Said A.; Stone, Roslyn A.; Obrosky, D. Scott; Sartorius, Jennifer; Fine, Michael J.; Aujesky, Drahomir
    Objectives. Previous studies reported a higher incidence of in-hospital mortality for Black patients who had pulmonary embolism than for White patients. We used a large statewide database to compare 30-day mortality (defined as death within 30 days from the date of latest hospital admission) for Black and White patients who were hospitalized because of pulmonary embolism. Methods. The study cohort consisted of 15531 discharged patients who had been treated for pulmonary embolism at 186 Pennsylvania hospitals between January 2000 and November 2002. We used random-effects logistic regression to model 30-day mortality for Black and White patients, and adjusted for patient demographic and clinical characteristics. Results. The unadjusted 30-day mortality rates were 9.0% for White patients, 10.3% for Blacks, and 10.9% for patients of other or unknown race. When adjustedfor severity of disease using a validated clinical prognostic model for pulmonary embolism, Black patients had 30% higher odds of 30-day mortality compared with White patients at the same site (adjusted odds ratio = 1.3; 95% confidence interval, 1.1,1.6). Neither insurance status nor hospital volume was a significant predictor of 30-day mortality. Conclusion. Black patients who had pulmonary embolism had significantly higher odds of 30-day mortality compared with White patients.