JUAN A. CRESTANELLO: Welcome to the Cardiovascular Surgery Series, where I review the latest research in cardiovascular surgery from the Mayo Clinic. I will discuss today, Sex and race disparities in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: unequal implantable cardioverter-defibrillator use during hospitalization.

Among 23,000 patients hospitalized in the National Inpatient Sample between 2003 and 2014 with the diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the rate of ICD implantation was 16.8%. That rate increased over the course of the years. However, when we compare females versus male patients, female patients hospitalized for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy had a lower rate of ICD implantation. When we compare white versus non-white patients, the rate of implantation was similar. When we adjust for the patient's characteristics, the old ratio of receiving an ICD was lower in female patients and non-white patients.

We conclude that among HCM hospitalizations, ICD devices are underused in women and racial minorities independent of demographic, hospital characteristics and comorbidities. Also, women and racial minorities had a higher rate of complications and greater resource utilization than men and those belonging to the white race. Thank you for listening to the Cardiovascular Surgery Series.