Acute MI, in-hospital mortality risk higher in young Hispanic women

DALLAS — Young Hispanic women are more susceptible to death after hospitalization for acute MI and more likely to have coexisting conditions such as diabetes compared with white women and men, according to findings presented at AHA 2013.

Data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project conducted in 2009 were used to examine trends in acute MI hospitalizations and in-hospital mortality by sex, age and race. Of more than 207,000 acute MI hospitalizations analyzed, about 6,500 were Hispanic and black women younger than 65 years. Black and Hispanic women were significantly younger at the time of hospitalization for acute MI than their white counterparts.

Researchers found:

Hispanic, black and white women younger than 65 years were 1.5, 1.4 and 1.2 times more likely, respectively, to experience in-hospital death compared with white men.
Hispanic women younger than 65 years had a higher risk for diabetes; 55.9% of younger Hispanic women had diabetes vs. 46.1% of black women and 35.9% of white women.
Of those hospitalized, 47.4% of black women, 50.1% of Hispanic women and 58.2% of white women underwent PCI or CABG vs. 73.3% of white men.

Factors such as language barriers, limited access to health care, provider bias and differences in treatment patterns may explain why young Hispanic women are more at risk for acute MI, diabetes and in-hospital death, according to researchers.

“Our findings of striking racial/ethnic, gender and age disparities in heart attack treatment patterns and outcomes suggest that young minority women should be targeted for both primary and secondary prevention of ischemic heart disease,” Fatima Rodriguez, MD, MPH, an internal medicine resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said in a press release.

For more information:

Rodriguez F. Abstract #15362. Presented at: the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions; Nov. 16-20, 2013; Dallas.

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.