Racial Differences in Hospital Death for Atrial Fibrillation: The National Inpatient Sample 2001-2012

BACKGROUND: Understanding racial differences in outcomes for atrial fibrillation (AF) may guide interventions to diminish health inequities. METHODS AND RESULTS: In a retrospective, cross-sectional study of adults hospitalized with a principal diagnosis of AF using the 2001-2012 National Inpatient Sample, we assessed racial differences for in-hospital. We accounted for case-mix and clustering by race within hospitals to estimate odds ratios (OR) for death associated with individual patient race and hospital racial composition. We identified 676,567 hospitalizations (mean age 71.8 years, 53.6% women) with principal diagnosis of AF (84.2% White, 7.1% Black, 5.0% Hispanic). Black (vs. White) race was associated with 1.63-fold (95% CI, 1.50-1.78) risk of death. Other races had similar risk of death as Whites. Risk of death for Blacks (vs. Whites) declined over time [2001: OR 1.78(95% CI 1.31-2.43); 2012: OR 1.23(95% CI 0.92–1.64)]. Racial differences in deaths within hospitals narrowed, while hospitals with larger proportions of Blacks had persistently worse outcomes than hospitals with fewer Blacks (OR 1.08 per 10% increase in Blacks in 2001 and 2012). CONCLUSION: Black patients with a principal diagnosis of AF were more likely to suffer in-hospital death than Whites. Our findings suggest racial disparities based upon individual patients’ race improved over time, but outcomes were persistently worse at hospitals with higher proportions of Black patients, regardless of patients’ races.