Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Patients Undergoing Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement: Insights from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project's National Inpatient Sample

Purpose: To identify racial/ethnic disparities in utilization rates, in-hospital outcomes and health care resource use among Non-Hispanic Whites (NHW), African Americans (AA) and Hispanics undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in the United States (US). Methods and results: The National Inpatient Sample database was queried for patients ≥18 years of age who underwent TAVR from 2012 to 2014. The primary outcome was all-cause in hospital mortality. A total of 36,270 individuals were included in the study. The number of TAVR performed per million population increased in all study groups over the three years [38.8 to 103.8 (NHW); 9.1 to 26.4 (AA) and 9.4 to 18.2 (Hispanics)]. The overall in-hospital mortality was 4.2% for the entire cohort. Race/ethnicity showed no association with in-hospital mortality (P >.05). Though no significant difference were found between AA and NHW in any secondary outcome, being Hispanic was associated with higher incidence of acute myocardial infarction (aOR = 2.02; 95% CI, 1.06–3.85; P =.03), stroke/transient ischemic attack (aOR = 1.81; 95% CI, 1.04–3.14; P =.04), acute kidney injury (aOR = 1.65; 95% CI, 1.23–2.21; P <.01), prolonged length of stay (aOR = 1.18; 95% CI, 1.08–1.29; P <.01) and higher hospital costs (aOR = 1.27; 95% CI, 1.18–1.36; P <.01). Conclusion: There are significant racial disparities in patients undergoing TAVR in the US. Though in-hospital mortality was not associated with race/ethnicity, Hispanic patients had less TAVR utilization, higher in-hospital complications, prolonged length of stay and increased hospital costs.