Racial Differences amongst Patients with Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

Purpose The prevalence of pulmonary atrial hypertension (PAH) among minority groups is unclear and the impact of race on outcomes from registry databases have not been investigated. Objectives This study was undertaken to evaluate outcomes of patients diagnosed with PAH with respect to different racial backgrounds. Methods The National Inpatient Sample (NIS) was used to identify all patients hospitalized ≥18 years of age in 2016 with a diagnosis of PAH by ICD-10 code I270. We then sought to determine the racial differences amongst white, blacks, Hispanics, Asian/Pacific Islanders (API), and Native Americans (NA), with respect to their characteristics, and outcomes of interests including length of stay (LOS), total charges, number of diagnoses, Elixhauser mortality score, readmission score and mortality, and geographic distribution. Categorical variables between groups were assessed with Chi Square testing while continuous variables were assessed using ANOVA testing. All analyses were conducted using SAS v 9.4 and accounted for the NIS sampling design and updated hospital trend weights. Results In 2016, among 10,300 patients with a primary or secondary diagnosis of PAH, 66.7% were white, 19% were black, 8% were Hispanic, 2% were API and 0.7% were NA. The mean age across this group was significantly different, with whites being oldest (68.19 ± 0.44), and NA being youngest (57.13 ± 5.57). Amongst these groups, API were noted to have the longest LOS (8.59 ± 1.76 days, p Conclusion Patients with PAH of API racial background have a higher LOS, mean readmission score and mortality score compared to other racial cohorts. These significant disparities deserve further investigation.