Health Disparities

Health disparities have the largest impact on the access, quality of care and outcomes overall in many patient populations defined by factors such as race, ethnicity, gender, education level, income, disability, geographic location. Many other factors also play a role, including if a patient is in a rural of urban location, distances to hospitals, pharmacies and clinics. These factors of inequitable access or healthcare are often directly related to the historical and ongoing unequal distribution of social, political, economic, and environmental resources. This page includes content defining health disparities and efforts to address them.
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The central illustration from a study that shows the impact of ECG AI algorithm study case and control selection to train artificial intelligence to better screening patients for cardiac amyloidosis. Image courtesy of JACC Advances.

Using ECG AI to find the cardiac amyloidosis needles in the haystack

Early detection of cardiac amyloidosis is leads to the best outcomes, but it is often missed until later stages. AI is being developed to help detect these patients earlier using ECG and echo.

physician tracking patient data and reporting on outcomes

Q&A: Cardiologist Karen Joynt Maddox on why new healthcare policies are not improving outcomes

Healthcare's ongoing shift toward value-based care is a good thing, Joynt Maddox explained, but its implementation has been far from ideal. She also discussed population health, the pandemic, health disparities and the rising influence of private equity investments.

Newsweek ranked the 50 best heart hospitals in the world

3 in 5 US adults projected to have CVD by 2050, with a price tag of $1.8T—can cardiologists ‘turn the tide’?

More than 60% of adults in the United States are expected to have at least one form of cardiovascular disease by 2050, according to new data published by the American Heart Association. Fortunately, evidence does suggest that healthier lifestyles are starting to become more common as time goes on.

Leftr, Pedro Martinez-Clark, MD, FSCAI, interventional cardiologist, founder and medical director of Amavita Heart and Vascular Health during a PAD intervention. Right, an ultrasound evaluation of PAD in the legs. Amavita recently launched the Miami Initiative to Stop Amputation (MISA) to tackle the rising rates of amputations due to peripheral artery disease (PAD), in Latin, Haitian and Black communities in the Miami area. Photos courtesy of Amavita Heart and Vascular Health

Rising amputation rates spark new PAD initiative in Miami

"When you think about the rise of amputations in a country like the United States, that's concerning because it should not be happening here," one interventional cardiologist said. 

Women remain underrepresented in revascularization trials—can cardiology leaders reverse that trend?

“If together we do not just hope for, but demand, adequate representation as a necessary criterion for high-quality studies worthy of adoption into practice, we will have a real shot at achieving true equity in our trials," cardiologists said in a new commentary.

Faluso Fakorede, MD, interventional cardiologiost, explains how health disparities serve as a primary driver of 400 amputations a day because patients are not accessing healthcare.

Health disparities are causing serious harm, leading to 400 amputations per day

Interventional cardiologist Foluso Fakorede, MD, says everything from limited specialists to a lack of sidewalks are causing a disproportionate rate of minorities to be caught in the current PAD and CLI epidemic.

Cardiologist Foluso Fakorede, MD, explains the most common health disparities he sees preventing care in rural Mississippi. #PADadvocate #PAD #CLI #CLTI #Healthdisparities #HealthdisparitiesMS

Cardiologist details the many health disparities he encounters in rural Mississippi

Foluso Fakorede, MD, an interventional cardiologist with Cardiovascular Solutions of Central Mississippi, says these issues are typically overlooked in today's healthcare environment. 

Foluso Fakorede, MD, interventional cardiologist, Cardiovascular Solutions of Central Mississippi, explains how he moved to rural Mississippi, the epicenter of the PAD and CLI epidemic, to open a practice to take action and reverse the glaring health disparities and that are leading to more than 400 leg amputations per day in the U.S.

Cardiologist moves to Mississippi to fight back against PAD and limit amputations

Interventional cardiologist Foluso Fakorede, MD, opened a practice in rural Mississippi, the epicenter of the PAD and CLI epidemic, to try and reverse the glaring health disparities in that region.

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Around the web

Radiology Business
Key takeaways from RSNA 2024 for AI, CT, MRI and the radiology staffing shortage

Several key trends were evident at the Radiological Society of North America 2024 meeting, including new CT and MR technology and evolving adoption of artificial intelligence.

Health Imaging
Use of AI opportunistic screening in CT for cardiovascular disease

Ron Blankstein, MD, professor of radiology, Harvard Medical School, explains the use of artificial intelligence to detect heart disease in non-cardiac CT exams.