Women and Mexican Americans receive fewer cardiovascular drugs following myocardial infarction than men and non-Hispanic whites: The Corpus Christi Heart Project, 1988-1990

Harald Herholz, David C. Goff*, David J. Ramsey, Frances A. Chan, Carmen Ortiz, Darwin R. Labarthe, Milton Z. Nichaman

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

42 Scopus citations

Abstract

Mortality following myocardial infarction (MI) is greater among women than men and among Mexican Americans than non Hispanic whites. Because therapy can affect mortality following MI, we examined differences in discharge therapy among these groups. Data regarding discharge therapy of 982 patients in the Corpus Christi Heart Project showed that women received fewer cardiovascular drugs than men, and Mexican Americans received fewer cardiovascular drugs than non-Hispanic whites. In multivariate analysis adjusting for age, cigarettes smoking, diabetes, hypertension, congestive heart failure, and serum cholesterol, the odds ratio for receipt of cardiovascular medications was 0.51 (95% CI: 0.28-0.93) for women versus men and 0.62 (0.3-1.15) for Mexican Americans versus non Hispanic whites. Beta blockers were prescribed rarely. Thus, treatment differences between ethnic and gender groups were observed following MI. Further research is needed to determine both the reasons for these differences and the extent to which these differences contribute to the observed survival patterns following MI.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)279-287
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Clinical Epidemiology
Volume49
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 1996

Keywords

  • Epidemiology
  • Ethnicity
  • Gender
  • Hispanic
  • Myocardial infarction
  • Treatment

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Epidemiology

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