Race and Ethnicity With Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Outcomes Within a Universal Health Care System: Insights From the CARTaGENE Study.

BACKGROUND

It remains unclear whether racial and ethnic disparities for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) persist within universal health care systems. We aimed to explore long-term ASCVD outcomes within a single-payer health care system with extensive drug coverage in Québec, Canada.

METHODS

CARTaGENE (CaG) is a population-based prospective cohort study of individuals aged 40 to 69 years. We included only participants without previous ASCVD. The primary composite endpoint was time to the first ASCVD event (cardiovascular death, acute coronary syndrome, ischemic stroke-transient ischemic attack, or peripheral arterial vascular event).

RESULTS

The study cohort included 18,880 participants followed for a median of 6.6 years (2009 to 2016). The mean age was 52 years, and 52.4% were female. After further adjustment for socioeconomic and cardiovascular factors, the increase in ASCVD risk for South Asians (SAs) was attenuated (hazard ratio [HR], 1.41; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.75, 2.67), whereas Black participants' risk was lower (HR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.29, 0.95) compared with White participants. After similar adjustments, there were no significant differences in ASCVD outcomes among the Middle Eastern, Hispanic, East-Southeast Asian, Indigenous, and mixed race-ethnicities participants and the White participants.

CONCLUSIONS

After adjustment for CV risk factors, the risk of ASCVD was attenuated in the SA CaG participants. Intensive risk-factor modification may mitigate the ASCVD risk of the SAs. Within a universal health care context and comprehensive drug coverage, the ASCVD risk was lower among Black compared with White CaG participants. Future studies are needed to confirm whether universal and liberal access to health care and medications can reduce the rates of ASCVD among the Black population.