Racial and Gender Disparities Among Cardiovascular Case Deferment Due to Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Andrew Ibrahim, Mohamad Altabaa, Zeba Momin, Maryam Niazi, Anthony Bruccoliere, Hoang Ho, Annmarie Farag, Dixon Santana, MD, Mohammad (Mac) Ansari, MD

PAD Center of Excellence, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas

Introduction

In hospital systems across the United States, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in unprecedented decreases in cardiovascular care. The number of cardiovascular procedures performed nationally was halved during the pandemic. Literature suggests that this reduction in cardiac procedures was due to overwhelmed healthcare systems and mandates to cease elective surgeries. Namely, increased morbidity was associated with a lack of hospital resources and personnel, which had been redirected to the increased number of COVID-19 cases.

There is little literature investigating how the pandemic exacerbated disparities in the treatment of cardiovascular disease and its development, especially in the West Texas region. Given the scarcity of such literature, our project aims to identify and evaluate the cause of pandemic deferment of cardiovascular care and to identify racial or gender biases that may have existed within the incidence of case deferment.

Methods

A prospective survey of 100 patients who presented at the TTUHSC Center for Cardiac Health Clinic and were involved in cardiovascular care deferment due to the COVID-19 pandemic is currently underway. Data of rates of procedure deferment, type of procedure deferred, and cardiovascular disease progression will be aggregated based on race and gender and then analyzed for trends.

Results

We predict a significant racial and gender disparity between patients of Hispanic/Latino descent and Non-Hispanic/Caucasian patients, as well as between male and female patients regarding deferment of cardiovascular care and subsequent disease progression in the setting of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conclusions

Racial and ethnic disparities in access to cardiac procedural care are critical issues in providing equitable access to healthcare. We predict the findings of this study will underscore the critical need for efforts aimed at diminishing such disparities in healthcare. We intend to utilize these findings to encourage health literacy awareness in rural areas such as West Texas.