Black patients with heart failure are less likely to receive palliative care

A study by researchers at Saint Louis University shows that only one in eight patients with heart failure in the United States receive palliative care consultations within five years of diagnosis. Recently published in the Journal of the American Heart Association , the study highlights the alarmingly low uptake of palliative care among adults with heart failure in the U.S.

, especially compared to patients with similarly fatal cancers. The study also highlighted significant racial and geographic disparities. Black people were 15% less likely to receive palliative care compared to their white counterparts.

This disparity is particularly concerning given the higher risk and mortality rates for cardiovascular disease in the Black population. Over the past decade, the American Heart Association (AHA) and the European Society of Cardiology have recommended integrating palliative care into managing heart failure. "However, anecdotal reports suggest that most patients with heart failure do not receive palliative care, and those who do typically receive it only in the last two to three weeks of life," said Zidong Zhang, Ph.

D., a research scientist at the AHEAD Institute at SLU's School of Medicine, the paper's senior and corresponding author. Zhang, a health service researcher focusing on palliative and patient-centered care for cardiovascular disease and cancer, has presented his research on patient outcomes at national conferences and published his findings in peer-reviewed journal.