Do race-specific models explain disparities in treatments after acute myocardial infarction?
GROUND: Racial differences in healthcare are well known, although some have challenged previous research where risk-adjustment assumed covariates affect whites and blacks equally. If incorrect, this assumption may misestimate disparities. We sought to determine whether clinical factors affect treatment decisions for blacks and whites equally. METHODS: We used data from the Cardiovascular Cooperative Project for 130,709 white and 8286 black patients admitted with an acute myocardial infarction. We examined the rates of receipt of 6 treatments using conventional common-effects models, where covariates affect whites and blacks equally, and race-specific models, where the effect of each covariate can vary by race. RESULTS: The common-effects models showed that blacks were less likely to receive 5 of the 6 treatments (odds ratios 0.64-1.10). The race-specific models displayed nearly identical treatment disparities (odds ratios 0.65-1.07). We found no interaction effect, which systematically
