African American race is associated with poorer outcomes in heart failure patients

Kelly L. Wierenga, Rebecca L. Dekker, Terry A. Lennie, Misook L. Chung, Kathleen Dracup

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

Health care disparities associated with African American race may influence event-free survival in patients with heart failure (HF). A secondary data analysis included 863 outpatients enrolled in a multicenter HF registry. Cox regression was used to determine whether African American race was associated with shorter HF event-free survival after controlling for covariates. The multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals [CI]) of older age (1.03, 95% CI = [1.01, 1.04]), New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class (1.73, 95% CI = [1.29, 2.31]), depressive symptoms (1.05, 95% CI = [1.02, 1.07]), and African American race (1.64, 95% CI = [1.01, 2.68]) were predictors of shorter event-free survival (all ps <.05). Comparisons showed that NYHA functional class was predictive of shorter event-free survival in Caucasians (1.81, 95% CI = [1.33, 2.46]) but not in African Americans (1.24, 95% CI = [.40, 3.81]). African Americans with HF experienced a disparate risk of shorter eventfree survival not explained by a variety of risk factors.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)524-538
Number of pages15
JournalWestern Journal of Nursing Research
Volume39
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2017

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This project was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Nursing Research, R01 NR008567; NIH, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, 5R01HL083176-5; NIH, National Institute of Nursing Research, 1P20NR010679; and training grants from the NIH (National Institute of Nursing Research K23 NR013480 and 1F31 NR014754); Sigma Theta Tau Alpha Psi; Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation; and the Jonas Center for Nursing Excellence.

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2016.

Keywords

  • Health disparities
  • Heart failure
  • Race

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Nursing (all)

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