Racial Differences in Burdensome Transitions in Heart Failure Patients with Palliative Care: A Propensity-Matched Analysis

Examining racial disparities in the treatment of heart failure (HF) patients and the effects of palliative care (PC) consultation is important to developing culturally competent clinical behaviors. To compare burdensome transitions for Black and White Veterans hospitalized with HF after PC consultation. This retrospective study evaluated Veterans admitted for HF to Veterans Administration hospitals who received PC consultation from October 2010 through August 2017. We propensity-matched Black to White Veterans using demographic, comorbidity, clinical, hospital, and survival time data. Propensity matching of our cohort ( = 5638) yielded 796 Black and White Veterans (total  = 1592) who were well-matched on observed variables (standard mean difference <0.15 for all variables). Matched Black Veterans had more burdensome transitions than White Veterans ( = 218, 27.4% vs.  = 174, 21.9%;  = 0.011) over the six-month follow-up period. This propensity-matched cohort found racial differences in burdensome transitions among admitted HF patients after PC consultation.