Ethnicity does not affect outcomes of coronary angioplasty

Background: Access to high quality medical care and especially to complex procedures may be adversely affected in members of a minority ethnic group or a lower socioeconomic class. For example, Caucasians undergo coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) or percutaneous transluminal coronary interventions (PTCI) twice as frequently as African-Americans. Data exist to suggest that African-Americans derive less benefit than Caucasians from CABG. Hypothesis: We investigated the possibility that outcomes of catheter-based coronary angioplasty might also be less favorable in minority populations. Methods: We analyzed in-hospital outcomes in 6,559 consecutive patients who underwent PTCI in our laboratory. In 37 ethnicity was classified as "other," 5,203 (79.8%) were identified as Caucasians, 863 (13.2%), as African-Americans, and 456 (7.0%), as Hispanics. Twelve baseline clinical, angiographic, and procedural characteristics were entered into a computerized data base. Hospital complications were identified by trained quality assurance nurses. Results: Substantial differences in baseline characteristics existed between the populations. Despite these differences, on univariate comparison of ethnicity and outcome, no differences between ethnic groups were found with a single exception. Mortality in Hispanics was higher than in the other two populations. (2.0 vs. 0.7 and 0.8%, respectively, p = 0.008). However, when this was adjusted for baseline characteristics, the difference was not significant. Conclusions: In contrast to previous studies suggesting less favorable outcomes of CABG in African-American patients, this analysis demonstrates an equal frequency of procedural success and rate of hospital complications for PTCI in that population, in Hispanics, and in Caucasians.