A startling recent study has concluded that for black patients in the USA their chances of surviving a cardiac arrest in hospital are less than other ethnic groups.

But the study concludes that may have little to do with the patients themselves, but rather the facilities where they are treated at the time of their cardiac incident.

The study was conducted by researchers from St. Luke’s and the University of Michigan Health System, as well as cardiologists and researchers from Duke University, The University of Washington Medical School in St Louis and Yale University and studied the care, both before and after a cardiac arrest of 10,011 patients in hospitals all over the United States. All of the patients underwent defibrillation intended to restart heart activity stopped after a cardiac arrest.

About half of the black patients that the study researched were successfully resuscitated, compared to a 67% rate in white patients. And although the black patients were actually normally sicker than other groups upon hospital admission they were less likely to be admitted to a unit where their condition was actively monitored. Even in those who were successfully initially resuscitated the eventual chances of the black patients surviving to a successful discharge and recovery were also disproportionately lower than other ethnic groups.

The problem stems from the level of care that is provided by the facilities where these black patients receive their care says Brahmajee K. Nallamothu, M.D., MPH, a senior author on the paper and cardiologist at the U-M Cardiovascular Center. He says that he and his team have produced research that suggests” that there are important facility-level characteristics at the hospitals where black patients are most commonly treated.”

These include he says less experienced emergency room and intensive care unit staff and less use of more advanced cardiac care techniques such as cardiac catheterization or hypothermia.

All of the authors agree that the results of their work should indicate that the focus of reducing the incidence of cardiac related death amongst black patients needs to shift from the patients themselves to the facilities where they commonly seek treatment.

The study concludes by stating that strategies need to be implemented to improve the level of care in the hospitals who see the most black patients, rather than focusing primarily on any genetic or lifestyle difference that may cause the disparity in fatality rates.

The study was published in the September 16th edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.