Comparative frequency of angiographic coronary artery disease in African Americans and Hispanics

African Americans and Hispanics are the two largest racial minority groups in the United States. Both groups have a high prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors, and African Americans have the highest mortality from cardiovascular disease of any racial group in the United States. Whereas a large body of clinical data compares African Americans and Whites or Hispanics and Whites with regard to coronary artery disease (CAD), limited data are available for such comparison between African Americans and Hispanics.

We retrospectively reviewed the angiographic and clinical data of 480 consecutive patients who underwent coronary angiography for suspected CAD in an inner city hospital between January 1997 and December 1998 in order to ascertain the frequency of CAD. One hundred eighty-nine (189) African Americans and 163 Hispanics met the inclusion criteria. The mean ages of African-American and Hispanic patients were similar, 56.3 +/- 10.9 years vs 55.6 +/- 11.4 years, respectively, P=.59. The frequency of angiographic CAD was 56.6% for African Americans and 54.6% for Hispanics, odds ratio [OR] 0.92, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.60-1.41, P=.71). Coronary artery disease (CAD) involving the left anterior descending coronary artery occurred significantly more in Hispanic compared to African-American patients (44.8% vs 33.7%, OR 1.58, 95% CI 1.03-2.44, P=.04). Coronary artery disease (CAD) risk factors occurred more in Hispanics compared to African Americans.

The frequency of angiographic CAD was not different for African-American and Hispanic patients (56.6% vs 54.6%, OR 0.92, 95% CI 0.60-1.41, P=.71) even though differences were seen in CAD risk factors.