Identification of Racial Inequities in Access to Specialized Inpatient Heart Failure Care at an Academic Medical Center.

Background: Racial inequities for patients with heart failure (HF) have been widely documented. HF patients who receive cardiology care during a hospital admission have better outcomes. It is unknown whether there are differences in admission to a cardiology or general medicine service by race.

Disparities in Management of Cardiovascular Disease in Rural South Africa: Data From the HAALSI Study (Health and Aging in Africa: Longitudinal Studies of International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and Their Health Communities).

Background: Optimal secondary prevention is critical for the reduction of repeated cardiovascular events, and the control of cardiovascular risk factors in this context is essential. Data on secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in sub-Saharan Africa are needed to inform intervention strategies with a particular focus on local disparities. The aim of this study was to assess CVD management in a rural community in northeast South Africa.

Awareness, treatment, and control of dyslipidemia in rural South Africa: The HAALSI (Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa) study.

Dyslipidemia is a primary driver for chronic cardiovascular conditions and there is no comprehensive literature about its management in South Africa. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of dyslipidemia in rural South Africa and how they are impacted by different behaviors and non-modifiable factors. To fulfill this objective we recruited for this cohort study adults aged ≥40 years residing in the Agincourt sub-district of Mpumalanga Province.

Hypertension management in a population of older adults in rural South Africa.

Objective: Assess awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension, as an indication of its management, in rural South Africa, especially regarding modifiers of these variables.

Methods: A population-representative sample of adults aged at least 40 years residing in the rural Agincourt subdistrict (Mpumalanga Province) covered by a long-term health and sociodemographic surveillance system was recruited. In-person interviews, physical exams, and dried blood spots were collected.

A community-driven hypertension treatment group in rural Honduras.

Background: We formed a self-funded hypertension treatment group in a resource-poor community in rural Honduras. After training community health workers and creating protocols for standardized treatment, we used group membership fees to maintain the group, purchase generic medications in bulk on the local market, and hire a physician to manage treatment. We then assessed whether participation in the group improved treatment, medication adherence, and hypertension control.

Risk of congenital heart defects in the offspring of smoking mothers: a population-based study.

Objectives: To conduct a population-based study examining the occurrence of congenital heart defects (CHDs) in relation to maternal smoking during the first trimester of pregnancy.

Study Design: This retrospective case-control study used Washington State birth certificates from 1989 to 2011 and linked hospital discharge International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision, codes to identify singleton nonsyndromic CHD cases and determine maternal prenatal smoking status. We calculated ORs from multivariate logistic regression models to compare maternal first-trimester smoking status (any and daily number of cigarettes) among 14,128 cases, both overall and by phenotype, and 60,938 randomly selected controls frequency matched on birth year.