RECENT RESE ARCH BA SED ON DATA FROM GE T WITH THE GUIDELINES§RESUSCITATION ¢GW TGŸR£
SHOWS A SUBSTANTIAL DECRE A SE IN THE DIFFERENCE IN SURVIVAL R ATES BE T WEEN BL ACK AND
WHITE PATIENTS WHO SUFFER INŸHOSPITAL CARDIAC ARREST.
"
Disparities [in patient survival] — when they do exist — are dynamic, and we
need to continue conducting research to see how we can reduce the disparities instead
of just describing them. This doesn't just apply to cardiac arrest but to any condition."
PAUL CHAN, MD, PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE AT ST. LUKE'S HOSPITAL AND THE UNIVERSITY OF
MISSOURI‡KANSAS CITY
RACIAL GAP FOR IN-HOSPITAL CARDIAC ARREST
MORTALITY NARROWS
BY JOSH GARCIA
SE V ER A L STUDIE S PUBLISHED dur ing t he pa st decade
have exa mined this dispa rit y. One such study, led by Paul
Cha n, MD, Professor of Medicine at St. Luke's Hospita l a nd
the Universit y of Missouri–Ka nsa s Cit y, wa s published in
JA M A in 2009.
It fou nd t he rate of su r v iva l for black i n-hospit a l ca r-
diac a rrest patients was ma rkedly lower tha n that of white
in-hospita l ca rdiac a rrest patients, based on data from the
Nationa l Registr y of Ca rdiopulmona r y Resuscitation — now
k now n a s GW TG -R — prov ided by t he A mer ica n Hea r t
A ssociation (A H A).
" W hen the study was published, white patients had a 37 per-
cent sur v iva l rate, whi le black patients had a 25 percent
sur viva l rate," Dr. Chan says. "There was no sur viva l gap that
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