Abstract 218: Major Therapeutic Cardiac Procedures in the Very Elderly: All-Payer Race-Gender Disparities and Temporal Trends
Objectives: Major therapeutic cardiac procedures include open heart surgery (e.g., coronary artery bypass graft, valv/septum repairs) (OPEN), insertion/repair of pacemakers, internal defibrillators, and related devices (PACE), and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The use of these procedures among patients aged > 85 years has not been well-described. Methods: Inpatient records for adults aged > 85 years were obtained from a comprehensive all-payer hospital discharge database for Florida for 2006-2011. Major cardiac procedures were identified by ICD-9-CM codes. Patient race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic White, Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black), gender, payer, principal/secondary diagnoses, and in-hospital mortality were analyzed for each procedure type. Annual procedure rates were calculated using US Census population estimates. Results: There were 2,497,573 person-years at risk for the period 2006-2011, with a total of 1,355,308 inpatient hospitalizations in this very elderly population. Medicare coverage ranged from 88% in Hispanic men (HM) to 96% in White women (WW). Procedure rates were higher in Medicare patients vs. all other payers. PACE was the most common major cardiac procedure (n=32,338), followed by PCI (n=17,046) and OPEN (n=5,916). Population rates of each procedure varied significantly by race/ethnicity and gender (see Figure for PACE rates). In 2011, the rate of PCI for White men (WM) (89 per 10,000, 95% CI 84 to 94) was 20% higher compared to HM, 70% higher compared to Black men (BM), 80% higher than WW and Black women (BW), and 130% higher than Hispanic women (HW). The open heart surgery rate for WM (41 per 10,000, 95% CI 38 to 45) was significantly higher than all other groups: 1.6 times the rate for HM, 2.9 times the rate for WW, 4.1 times the rate for HW, 8.2 times the rate for BM and 10.3 times the rate for BW. In-hospital mortality rates were 1.4% for PACE, 4.3% for PCI, and 8.2% for OPEN. Temporal trends showed declining rates for all procedures over the study period. Conclusions: Major therapeutic cardiac interventions are common among the very elderly. Greater inclusion of very elderly patients in clinical trials and outcome studies is necessary to establish the survival and quality of life benefits of these procedures for patients near the end of life.