Knapp, Shannon M

BACKGROUND: Among accepted US heart organs, listing centers accept organ offers earliest for White women, followed by Black women, White men, and Black men. Understanding the relationships of center- and geographic-level decisions is necessary to understand waitlist disparities. We sought to determine whether listing center and geography are associated with the first heart organ acceptance by candidate race, since race demographics vary regionally across the United States. METHODS: Using the United Network for Organ Sharing data sets, we identified first organ offers for Black and White candidates listed for heart transplant (October 18, 2018 to September 30, 2024) and compared models with and without listing center effects adjusted for candidate-, donor-, and offer-level variables. RESULTS: Among 20 668 candidates (31.6% Black, 68.4% White, 26.5% women), the adjusted odds of first offer acceptance were lower for Black candidates compared with White candidates (odds ratio, 0.84 [95% CI, 0.76–0.94]; P =0.001) when listing center was not included in the model; but after adjusting for listing center effects, odds were similar by race (odds ratio, 0.98 [95% CI, 0.88–1.10]; P =0.78). There were no clear geographic patterns by center, but centers with lower proportions of Black candidates had higher acceptance rates. CONCLUSIONS: Variability in overall acceptance rate among listing centers explains the lower first offer acceptance for Black compared with White heart candidates. Baseline acceptance rates were linked to the center-level proportion of Black candidates but not geography. Investigation of strategies to systemically improve early acceptance of good heart organs may reduce Black and White disparities in wait time duration.

Background: Inequities in Preeclampsia/Eclampsia (PrE/E) persist. It is unknown if the receipt of cardiology care relates to future risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in Black and White patients with PrE/E. We sought to determine the cumulative incidence of MACE by race and whether predelivery cardiology care was associated with the hazard of MACE up to 1-year post-delivery for Black and White patients with PrE/E. Methods: Using Optum’s Clinformatics® Data Mart Database (CDM), we identified Black and White patients with PrE/E who had a delivery between 2008 to 2019. MACE was defined as the composite of heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, stroke, and death. Cumulative incidence functions were used to compare the incidence of MACE by race. Cox regression models were used to assess the hazard of MACE by cardiology care for Black and White patients. Results: Among 29,336 patients (83.4% White, 16.6% Black, mean age of 30.9 years) with PrE/E, 11.2% received cardiology care (10.9% White, 13.0% Black). Black patients had a higher incidence of MACE than White patients at 1-yr post-delivery (2.7% vs 1.4%). After adjusting for age and clinical comorbidities, receipt of cardiology care was associated with lower hazard of MACE for White patients (HR= 0.68, 95%CI: 0.50-0.92 p=0.013) but not Black patients (HR: 1.22, 95% CI: 0.82-1.81; p= 0.328). The interaction effect between race and cardiology care was statistically significant (p=0.013) Conclusions: Among a well-insured population of patients with PrE/E, Black patients had a higher cumulative incidence of MACE up to a year post-delivery. However, cardiology care significantly lowered the hazard of MACE for only White women. This observation does not suggest that cardiology care is detrimental to Black individuals but underscores the necessity to investigate why outcomes are disparate among these racial groups.

BACKGROUND: It is unknown whether predelivery cardiology care is associated with future risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in preeclampsia/eclampsia (PrE/E). We sought to determine the cumulative incidence of MACE by race and whether predelivery cardiology care was associated with the hazard of MACE up to 1 year post-delivery for Black and White patients with PrE/E. METHODS: Using Optum’s de-identified Clinformatics Data Mart Database, we identified Black and White patients with PrE/E who had a delivery between 2008 and 2019. MACE was defined as the composite of heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, stroke, and death. Cumulative incidence functions were used to compare the incidence of MACE by race. Regression models were used to assess the hazard of MACE by cardiology care for each race. Separate hazards were calculated for the first 14 days and the remainder of the year. RESULTS: Among 29 336 patients (83.4% White patients, 16.6% Black patients, 99.5% commercially insured, mean age: 30.9 years) with PrE/E, 11.2% received cardiology care (10.9% White patients, 13.0% Black patients). Black patients had higher incidence of MACE than White patients at 1 year post-delivery (2.7% versus 1.4%) with the majority within 14 days of delivery (Black patients: 58.7%; White patients: 67.8%). After adjusting for age and comorbidities, receipt of cardiology care was associated with a lower hazard of MACE for White patients within 14 days after delivery (hazard ratio, 0.31 [95% CI, 0.21–0.46]; P <0.001) but not Black patients (hazard ratio, 1.00 [95% CI, 0.60–1.67]; P =0.999). The effect of the interaction between race and cardiology care was significant in the first 14 days ( P <0.001) but not the remainder of the year ( P =0.56). CONCLUSIONS: Among a well-insured population of patients with PrE/E, Black patients had a higher cumulative incidence of MACE up to a year post-delivery. Cardiology care was associated with a lower hazard of MACE only for White patients during the first 14 days after delivery.

ImportanceBarriers to heart transplant must be overcome prior to listing. It is unclear why Black men and women remain less likely to receive a heart transplant after listing than White men and women.ObjectiveTo evaluate whether race or gender of a heart transplant candidate (ie, patient on the transplant waiting list) is associated with the probability of a donor heart being accepted by the transplant center team with each offer.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThis cohort study used the United Network for Organ Sharing datasets to identify organ acceptance with each offer for US non-Hispanic Black (hereafter, Black) and non-Hispanic White (hereafter, White) adults listed for heart transplant from October 18, 2018, through March 31, 2023.ExposuresBlack or White race and gender (men, women) of a heart transplant candidate.Main Outcomes and MeasuresThe main outcome was heart offer acceptance by the transplant center team. The number of offers to acceptance was assessed using discrete time-to-event analyses, nonparametrically (stratified by race and gender) and parametrically. The hazard probability of offer acceptance for each offer was modeled using generalized linear mixed models adjusted for candidate-, donor-, and offer-level variables.ResultsAmong 159 177 heart offers with 13 760 donors, there were 14 890 candidates listed for heart transplant; 30.9% were Black, 69.1% were White, 73.6% were men, and 26.4% were women. The cumulative incidence of offer acceptance was highest for White women followed by Black women, White men, and Black men (P &amp;lt; .001). Odds of acceptance were less for Black candidates than for White candidates for the first offer (odds ratio [OR], 0.76; 95% CI, 0.69-0.84) through the 16th offer. Odds of acceptance were higher for women than for men for the first offer (OR, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.39-1.68) through the sixth offer and were lower for the 10th through 31st offers.Conclusions and RelevanceThe cumulative incidence of heart offer acceptance by a transplant center team was consistently lower for Black candidates than for White candidates of the same gender and higher for women than for men. These disparities persisted after adjusting for candidate-, donor-, and offer-level variables, possibly suggesting racial and gender bias in the decision-making process. Further investigation of site-level decision-making may reveal strategies for equitable donor heart acceptance.