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Ann Thorac Surg 2003;76:S1346-S1347
© 2003 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

Supplement: understanding disparities in cardiovascular and thoracic surgical outcomes in African-Americans

Understanding disparities in outcomes in cardiovascular medicine and thoracic oncology in African-American patients

Robert S.D. Higgins, MDa*

a Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA

* Address reprint requests to Dr Higgins, Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Rush University, 1653 W. Congress Parkway, Chicago, IL 60612-3833, USA
e-mail: robert_higgins@rush.edu

Presented at the symposium on Understanding Disparities in Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgical Outcomes in African Americans, San Diego, CA, Jan 30, 2003.

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

Our society has struggled for centuries with racial and ethnic disparities in all sectors of American life. African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, and Pacific Islanders are all disproportionately represented in lower socioeconomic ranks, in lower quality schools, and in lower paying jobs [1]. These disparities can be traced to historic patterns of discrimination and legalized segregation. Evidence of these racial and ethnic disparities is also found in modern healthcare systems across the country.

The medical literature is replete with a large number of studies demonstrating disparities in cardiovascular care, cancer, treatment of HIV infection, transplantation, and a host of other disease areas [2–6]. Recent emphasis in this regard has refocused individual and national attention on the topic of health disparities. These are not new revelations because members of the minority community have often understood these historical trends to be true throughout the trials and tribulations of their life and death on the outside of the world's most progressive medical infrastructure. Associations such as the National Medical Association and other minority physician groups have worked extensively over the years "to create a force for parity and justice in medicine and the elimination of disparities in health" [7]. In 1986 this topic gained national attention with the release of the report of the Secretary's Task Force on Black and Minority Health by the Department of Health and Human Services [8]. The most recent body of evidence of . . . [Full Text of this Article]






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