Northwestern University researchers have analyzed data from more than 700,000 patients across over 800 U.S. hospitals between 2015 and 2023, revealing significant differences in heart failure care among Asian American ethnic groups. The study found that grouping all Asian American patients together under the label "Asian" can hide important disparities among subgroups such as Filipino, Vietnamese, Chinese, Asian Indian, Korean, and Japanese patients.
The research highlighted that Filipino and Vietnamese patients were less likely to receive complete, guideline-recommended care for heart failure compared to other groups. While the study did not seek to determine the causes of these gaps in care, the authors suggested factors like health literacy, English-language proficiency, or financial resources may play a role.
According to senior author Dr. Nilay Shah, a preventive cardiologist at Northwestern University: "Growing up in an Asian American community, I saw firsthand the challenges my family and friends experienced in accessing health care services." Dr. Shah is available to discuss why these disparities remained unnoticed for so long and what changes health systems could implement.
Although rates of death during hospitalization were similar between Asian American and White patients in the study, there were still differences in medication use, discharge planning processes, and overall quality of care delivered to different Asian ethnic groups.
The findings underscore ongoing issues with how hospitals collect and categorize patient data. Many institutions continue to use broad racial categories such as "Asian," which can mask critical differences within this rapidly growing segment of the U.S. population.
