Myocardial infarction classification and its implications on measures of cardiovascular outcomes, quality, and racial/ethnic disparities

Heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death in the United States, with approximately 805 000 cumulative deaths from myocardial infarctions (MI) from 2005 to 2014. Gender and racial/ethnic disparities in MI diagnoses are becoming more evident in quality review audits. Although recent changes in diagnostic codes provided an improved framework, clinically distinguishing types of MI remains a challenge. MI misdiagnoses and health disparities contribute to adverse outcomes in cardiac medicine. We conducted a literature review of relevant biomedical sources related to the classification of MI and disparities in cardiovascular care and outcomes. From the studies analyzed, African Americans and women have higher rates of mortality from MI, are more probably to be younger and present with other comorbidities and are less probably to receive novel therapies with respect to type of MI. As high‐sensitivity troponin assays are adopted in the United States, implementation should account for how race and sex differences have been demonstrated in the reference range and diagnostic threshold of the newer assays. More research is needed to assess how the complexity of health disparities contributes to adverse cardiovascular outcomes. Creating dedicated medical quality teams (physicians, nurses, clinical documentation improvement specialists, and medical coders) and incorporating a plan‐do‐check‐adjust quality improvement model are strategies that could potentially help better define and diagnose MI, reduce financial burdens due to MI misdiagnoses, reduce cardiovascular‐related health disparities, and ultimately improve and save lives.