In the past, black veterans hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) were less likely to undergo cardiac revascularization procedures, including percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), than their white counterparts [1–7]. These differences in the use of cardiac revascularization procedures were observed over 10 years ago in a health care system where there was and still is equal access to care. It is uncertain whether these differences in the use of PCI persist in the era of drug eluting stents. It is possible that black patients are less likely to be the beneficiaries of new technology due to receiving care at hospitals with lower procedure rates and greater disparity in racial composition [8]. On the other hand, the indications for PCI in the setting of AMI have expanded significantly due to new technology, and it is possible that this trend has affected the proportions of black patients undergoing PCI. The purpose of this study is to determine if in the era of drug eluting stents, black veterans with AMI are less likely to receive PCI than their white counterparts.

From the 6262 individuals in this study, only black (n = 680) or white (n = 3529) patients were included, resulting in 4209 individuals. Excluded were those of other racial or ethnic groups (n = 388) or those whose race was unknown (n = 1665). Race/ethnicity was unknown for over 25% of individuals. Compared to their white counterparts, black individuals, who comprised 16% of the study group, were younger, less often had lipid disorders, previous coronary artery bypass graft surgery, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease but more often had diabetes, renal disease, or dementia (table 1). In addition, black patients lived closer to VHA medical centers and more often resided in the South region of the United States. Significantly, a higher proportion of black veterans smoked in the past year. The distribution of cardiac medications used prior to admission was similar in the 2 groups.

With respect to presenting signs and symptoms, black and white veterans were similar, except that the former group had higher systolic and diastolic blood pressures on admission (table 2). Symptoms were similar in the 2 groups, although black individuals reported less shoulder pain. ST segment elevation on the initial electrocardiogram was present in 16% and 18% (p = 0.10) of black and white patients, respectively, although the first troponin assay was more often elevated in black veterans (76% vs. 69%, p = 0.001). The highest troponin reading was elevated in 99% of both groups.

Rates of cardiac catheterization performed ≤ 30 days after admission were similar in the 2 groups as were rates of PCI performed ≤ 12 hours from admission (table 3). However, a significantly lower proportion of black veterans received PCI ≤ 30 days after admission (odds ratio = 0.71, 95% confidence interval = 0.60–0.85). Even among those who underwent cardiac catheterization, the rate of PCI was still lower in black veterans (48% vs. 59%, p < 0.0001). After adjusting for history of cerebrovascular disease, renal disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, dementia, chest pain on admission, ST elevation on the admission electrocardiogram, prolonged chest pain, age, geographic region, and availability of PCI services at the admitting hospital, black patients had a 21% lower likelihood of undergoing PCI (odds ratio = 0.79, 95% confidence interval = 0.71–0.88). The confidence intervals were adjusted for the clustering of patients within medical centers and were not appreciably different from the unadjusted ones. The model had adequate discrimination and calibration as indicated by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (c statistic = 0.75, 95% confidence interval = 0.73–0.76) and statistically non-significant Hosmer-Lemeshow test (p = 0.50).

For many years, race and gender differences in the use of cardiac revascularization procedures have been noted, and it appears that they have persisted through time [10]. Similar differences have been noted in VHA, although gender differences are less relevant given that relatively few women with AMI are treated in VHA medical centers [1–7]. In the current study, a higher proportion of black veterans were younger, had diabetes mellitus, renal disease, dementia, or elevated blood pressure, although more white patients had lipid disorders, previous coronary artery bypass surgery, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Significantly, a higher proportion of black individuals smoked cigarettes in the year prior to admission.

Even though they were more likely to be admitted to medical centers with interventional capability, black veterans were less likely to undergo PCI. This was true in both unadjusted and adjusted analyses. White patients were 2 times more likely to be transferred for PCI, and this increased the numbers undergoing PCI. Equal proportions of African-Americans underwent emergent or urgent PCI, and although white veterans more often underwent bypass surgery, the absolute difference was slightly less than 4%.

In this study there were no black-white differences regarding the use of cardiac catheterization, although this was not the case in a previous study conducted in VHA medical centers [11]. The fact that there were no black-white differences with respect to use of cardiac catheterization may provide a possible explanation for the observed difference with respect to PCI. If results of cardiac catheterization indicated that black veterans had minimal coronary artery disease or had lesions that were not amenable to intervention, then the difference could be explained. Unfortunately, measures of extent of coronary disease were not collected as part of the records abstraction. Peniston et al. compared the use of cardiac revascularization procedures in African-American and white veterans who underwent cardiac catheterization, and did not find racial differences after adjusting for extent of disease [7]. Whittle et al. reported that among clinically similar black and white veterans undergoing coronary angiography, black patients were less likely to have obstructive coronary disease [12].

In addition to the absence of catheterization results, another limitation of this study was that an undetermined number of veterans may have received PCI in non VHA hospitals. With the exception of Medicare data (which were not available for this study), these procedures are not recorded in national databases, and therefore could not be identified. If a higher proportion of white patients underwent PCI in non VHA hospitals, then the racial difference reported in this study may have been underestimated.

Over 25% of veterans were of unknown race. Recently the means for acquisition of race/ethnicity have changed in VHA. Race/ethnicity is now reported by the patient rather than determined by the individual provider or administrative assistant responsible for entering data into the electronic medical record. If the question is not asked or if the patient is not present when data are entered, then race/ethnicity is unknown.

Among those with unknown race, 43% had PCI within 30 days of admission; these individuals were on average 66 years of age and were less likely to have chronic conditions such as diabetes, congestive heart failure, lung disease, or cerebrovascular disease. Therefore patients with unknown race were relatively healthier and underwent PCI more often than their counterparts with known race. The problem of unknown race in VHA has been more apparent in the past several years. Therefore, for younger patients who did not use VHA health care in the 5 to 10 years prior to their events, race information from that time was not available to fill in missing information for 2003–2004. We were reluctant to impute race given the lack of adequate measures of characteristics highly correlated with race, such as income and education.

In this era of drug eluting stents and more aggressive treatment for AMI, black-white differences in the use of PCI persist even in the VHA, where access to procedures is not based on the ability to pay. However, given the equivalent use of cardiac catheterization as well as the equivalent use of PCI within 12 hours of admission, it is possible that less extensive or minimal coronary artery disease in black veterans could explain the observed difference.