ORCID

0000-0001-7702-2564 (Moudden), 0000-0002-2297-9235 (Alddin)

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2025

DOI

10.1186/s12872-025-04771-z

Publication Title

BMC Cardiovascular Disorders

Volume

25

Issue

1

Pages

314 (1-13)

Abstract

Background

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of mortality in the United States, presenting significant public health challenges and financial burdens, particularly in Southeastern Virginia, where African American and Hispanic (AA&H) populations are disproportionately affected.

Methods

This retrospective observational study analyzed data from 30,855 hospital discharges of AA&H patients across Southeastern Virginia from 2016 to 2020, focusing on individuals aged 18 to 85 with cardiovascular diseases. Utilizing the Virginia Health Information database, we examined demographic information, clinical data, and healthcare utilization patterns through hypothesis tests and regression models to explore associations between these variables and the economic impacts of cardiovascular diseases.

Results

Heart failure and shock (47.2% of discharges) and cardiac arrhythmia and conduction disorders (12.3%) were the most prevalent cardiovascular conditions. Female patients incurred significantly higher charges than males across conditions (7.1% higher in heart failure, p <  0.0001; 8.8% higher in chest pain, p <  0.01). Younger patients (<  65 years) faced 8.5% higher charges for cardiac arrhythmia with procedures (p <  0.0001) and 5.2% higher charges for circulatory disorders (p <  0.05). Year of discharge consistently predicted increasing costs (standardized coefficient 0.816 for acute myocardial infarction, p <  0.0001). The presence of fluid and electrolyte disorders was associated with significantly higher charges across conditions (standardized coefficient 0.042 for heart failure, p <  0.0001; 0.051 for acute myocardial infarction, p <  0.0001).

Discussion

The findings highlight the complex interplay between demographic characteristics and healthcare costs among AA&H populations, underscoring the need for targeted interventions. The significant economic impact observed calls for culturally competent healthcare strategies that can mitigate high costs and improve health outcomes. However, the retrospective, administrative nature of the data limits establishing causality, with potential misclassification of some conditions.

Conclusion

This study provides crucial insights into cardiovascular disease management's demographic and economic dimensions among AA&H populations in Southeastern Virginia. By identifying key factors contributing to healthcare disparities, the research supports the development of tailored interventions aimed at reducing the burden of cardiovascular diseases, thereby improving overall health equity and reducing economic strains on the healthcare system.

Rights

© 2025 The Authors.

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original authors and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

Data Availability

Article states: "The datasets used during the current study are derived from the Virginia Health Information (VHI) Patient Level Database and the Readmissions and Transfers Supplemental Data Set (RATs), which are licensed inpatient hospital discharge data files containing all submitted, processed, and verified discharges in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The data were accessed through the M. Foscue Brock Institute for Community and Global Health at Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University and the Research and Infrastructure Service Enterprise at Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University. The data are not publicly available due to VHI licensing agreements and privacy restrictions but may be available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request and subject to approval by VHI and the M. Foscue Brock Institute for Community and Global Health at Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University. Additional information about the data extraction methodology and the process used in this project to link the Patient Level Database to the RATs can be provided by contacting Dr. Ismail El Moudden at elmoudi@odu.edu. Researchers interested in accessing similar data should contact VHI directly to complete the appropriate license agreement and pay applicable fees. The data are held under the terms stipulated by the VHI licensing agreement, which prohibits public sharing of the data to protect patient confidentiality and comply with legal restrictions. Information about obtaining VHI data can be found at www.vhi.org/pld."

Original Publication Citation

El Moudden, I., Amidi, A., Sharaf Alddin, R., Bittner, M., & Zhang, Q. (2025). Disparities in cardiovascular disease outcomes and economic burdens among minorities in Southeastern Virginia. BMC Cardiovascular Disorders, 25(1), 1-13, Article 314. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12872-025-04771-z

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