Two new papers by a team of authors that includes DUPRI Scholars Matthew Dupre, Scott Lynch, Jessica West, and Hanzhang Xu investigate racial and ethnic disparities in cardiovascular health outcomes among adults in the United States.
The first article, "Racial and ethnic disparities in longitudinal trajectories of cardiovascular risk factors in U.S. middle-aged and older adults", published in PLoS One, examines longitudinal trajectories of cardiovascular risk factors in middle-aged and older adults, identifying how factors like blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, and smoking cluster and change over time, and noting the significant role of socioeconomic factors in observed disparities. The study concludes that significant racial and ethnic disparities exist in the longitudinal trajectories of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors among U.S. middle-aged and older adults, revealing distinct age-varying profiles. It highlights that social determinants, particularly socioeconomic factors like education and income, largely contributed to these disparities, underscoring the need for multi-level interventions to address socioeconomic inequities
The second article, "Racial and ethnic disparities in longitudinal trajectories of hospitalizations in patients diagnosed with heart failure, published in the American Heart Journal, focuses specifically on hospitalization trajectories for patients diagnosed with heart failure, revealing distinct patterns of admissions and highlighting that Black patients face elevated risks compared to White patients, with diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and neighborhood disadvantage contributing to these increased risks. The authors note that these findings have important implications for targeting interventions to reduce hospitalizations during the course of heart failure management.
Citations
Dupre, Matthew E., Radha Dhingra, Hanzhang Xu, Scott M. Lynch, Qing Yang, Cassie Ford, Michael D. Green, Ying Xian, Ann Marie Navar, and Eric D. Peterson. “Racial and ethnic disparities in longitudinal trajectories of cardiovascular risk factors in U.S. middle-aged and older adults.” PLoS One 20, no. 2 (2025): e0318419. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0318419.
Dupre, Matthew E., Radha Dhingra, Hanzhang Xu, Bradley G. Hammill, Scott M. Lynch, Jessica S. West, Michael D. Green, Lesley H. Curtis, and Eric D. Peterson. “Racial and ethnic disparities in longitudinal trajectories of hospitalizations in patients diagnosed with heart failure.” Am Heart J 287 (September 2025): 32–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ahj.2025.04.006.