Black-White Cardiovascular Disease Disparities After Target-Based Versus Personalized Benefit–Based Lipid and Blood Pressure Treatment

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of black-white morbidity and mortality disparities in the United States. Objectives: We sought to compare black-white CVD morbidity and mortality if lipid and blood pressure treatments were prescribed to achieve targeted lipid and blood pressure levels (treat-to-target [TTT]) or personalized CVD risk and treatment benefit estimates (benefit-based tailored treatment [BTT]). Methods: We utilized a microsimulation model of statin and blood pressure treatment based on a TTT approach (Joint National Commission 7; Adult Treatment Panel III) or a BTT approach (treating those with 10-year CVD risk ≥10%, a modification and extension of recent American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines). We input data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, isolating adults 40 to 75 years of age without prior CVD events. Results: We observed that TTT would prevent fewer CVD events (17.0 events prevented per 1,000 whites, 22.2 per 1,000 blacks) than the BTT approach (25.9 events prevented per 1,000 whites, 45.4 per 1,000 blacks). TTT could lower the national black-white CVD event rate disparity from 23.1 excess events per 1,000 blacks to 17.9 excess events (−23%), while BTT could lower the disparity to 3.6 excess events (−84% overall). The inferiority of TTT to BTT remained consistent in sensitivity analyses testing alternative treatment targets and either over- or underestimation of risk by commonly used equations. Conclusions: A BTT approach to lipid and blood pressure treatment would be expected to prevent more CVD events in the overall population and more effectively reduce national black-white CVD disparities than a traditional TTT approach.