HF Hospitalization Rates Decreasing Nationwide

Despite declines in national hospitalization rates for heart failure (HF), there are still large disparities in rates among men and women of different race/ethnicities, according to a recent study. This is particularly pronounced for men of all races/ethnicities, and for black men and women.

The researchers used data from the National Inpatient Sample to estimate the crude and age-standardized rates of HF hospitalization between 2002 and 2013 by sex and race/ethnicity.
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Overall, the national age-adjusted HF hospitalization rate decreased by 30.8% between 2003 to 2013, from 526.86 persons to 364.44 persons per 100,000 people. While hospitalizations were found to decrease for all subgroups within this timeframe, the ratio of age-standardized rate for men compared with women increased from 20% greater to 39%.

In 2013, black men had a rate that was 229% and black women had a rate that was 240% in relation to whites, and there was no significant change between 2002 and 2013 in HF hospitalization rates for black men and women.

While Hispanic men had a rate that was 32% greater than whites in 2002, the difference narrowed to 4% in 2013. In addition, Hispanic women had a rate that was 55% greater than whites in 2002, but this narrowed to 8% in 2013.

In 2002, Asian/Pacific Islander men had a 27% lower rate for HF hospitalization compared with whites, which improved to 43% in 2013, and Asian/Pacific Islander women had a 24% lower rate in 2002 and improved to 43% in 2013 in relation to whites.

“National HF hospitalization rates have decreased steadily during the recent decade,” the researchers concluded. However, “blacks have a HF hospitalization rate that is nearly two and half-fold higher than whites.”

“Significant population health interventions are needed to reduce the HF hospitalization burden among blacks.”

—Melissa Weiss

Reference:

Ziaeian B, Kominski GF, Ong MK, Mays VM, Brook RH, Fonarow GC. National differences in trends for heart failure hospitalizations by sex and race/ethnicity [published online June 27, 2017]. Circulation. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.116.003552.