Abstract
Introduction: Healthcare-associated racial disparities have become a significant public health concern. Due to the increase in morbidity and mortality associated with pulmonary hypertension (PH), we sought to explore whether race and socioeconomic status impact the disease’s burden. Methods: We identified adults 18 and above, with primary or secondary diagnoses of PH (all groups) using 2020 National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database. The ICD-10-CM codes were used. Data were analyzed using Stata 18. Results: Of 5,533,733 adults admitted, 4516 (8%) were diagnosed with PH. Mean age was 64.99 (SEM: ± 0.40), and 2784 (61.6%) were females. The mean length of stay was 5.09 ± 6.61 (SD). Data was missing for 92 patients regarding race. Of the sample of 4424, the majority (2743) were Caucasians (62.0%). The other races were Blacks 1066 (24.1%), Hispanic 398 (9.0%), Asia/Pacific Islanders 89 (2.0%), Native American 14 (0.3%), and others 114 (2.6%). Regarding socioeconomic status, 547 (20.0% of Caucasians), 518 (48.6% of Blacks), 162 (40.7% of Hispanics), 8 (9.0% of Asia/Pacific Islanders), and 35 (27.3% others) had low median household income defined as < $50,000 (p <0.001). The median cost of care was $73,337 ± 156,008. Among these patients with primary or secondary diagnoses of PH, the mortality rate was 2.8% (126/4516). Blacks had higher odds (cOR 1.62, 95% CI: 1.10-2.40, p<0.05) of inpatient mortality compared to Caucasians. However, the multivariate logistic analysis revealed no significant association after adjusting for age, gender, length of stay, median household income, total charges, and Charlson index (comorbidities). Conclusions: Racial disparities exist regarding PH-related admissions, with a higher likelihood of mortality among Blacks and persons with low socioeconomic status. The cost of health care in this population was high. Additional research is needed to focus on reducing disparities in healthcare regarding PH.
Published Version
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