This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Identifying geographic disparities in HF hospitalization may help guide prevention efforts
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
CDC researchers have identified geographic disparities among Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized with HF, including higher concentrations of hospitalizations in counties located in the Southern-Central and Eastern regions of the United States, according to results from a study.
“In light of the increasing hospitalization rates for HF at the national level and the heavy economic burden that accompanies high rates of hospitalizations, it is strategically advantageous to identify areas of the country that are most in need of efforts directed to the prevention of HF,” the researchers wrote.
They calculated the age-adjusted average annual county-level HF hospitalization rates (defined as a short-stay hospital claim with a principal discharge diagnosis of HF) among fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries aged at least 65 years who lived in the United States, Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands between 2000 and 2006.
The annual age-adjusted HF hospitalization rate per 1,000 Medicare beneficiaries was 21.5 per 1,000, and ranged from seven to 61 per 1,000 individuals among counties in the United States, according to the researchers.
Counties with the highest concentrations of high HF hospitalization rates were primarily located along the lower Mississippi River Valley and the Ohio River Valley. High-rate counties were also located in southern and north-central Texas, northern Illinois and the southeastern corner of Oklahoma.
For blacks, high-rate counties were observed along the Mississippi River Valley and in parts of the Appalachian region, particularly in western Pennsylvania and southern West Virginia. For Hispanics, the high-rate counties were located primarily in the Northeast region or in Texas. The magnitude of geographic disparity, according to the researchers, was “substantial” between the high- and low-rate counties. The midpoint of rates in the top quintile was four times larger than the midpoint from the bottom quintile.
“These maps provide a snapshot of the existing geographic and racial/ethnic disparities in the burden of HF in the United States,” the researchers wrote. “To better understand the contributions of other disease of the heart to the observed patterns, and to complete the picture of geographic disparities in heart disease, the CDC is producing an Atlas of Heart Disease Hospitalizations among Medicare Beneficiaries that will be published online and in hard copy in the spring of 2010.”
Casper M. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2010;55:294-299.