Influence of practices' ethnicity and deprivation on access to angiography: an ecological study.

Background: Coronary heart disease is more common among some ethnic minority groups (particularly people from the Indian sub-continent living in Europe and North America) and in socially deprived populations. Hospital studies in the United Kingdom (UK) suggest that these groups have less access to treatment for coronary heart disease. Studies from primary care have found reduced access to angiography for lower social class groups, but there are no studies on the ethnicity of primary care populations in relation to angiography.