Dr. Feng (Johnson) Qian, assistant professor of health policy and management at the University at Albany School of Public Health, recently published a first-authored paper in the journal of International Journal of Cardiology.  The study “Characteristics, Quality of Care, and In-Hospital Outcomes of Asian-American Heart Failure Patients: Findings from the American Heart Association Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure Program”, is the largest study to examine the clinical profile, quality of care, and health outcomes for Asian-American patients with heart failure (HF). Previously, little was known about Asian-American patients with HF although Asian-Americans have become the fastest growing racial group in the United States.

[Photo: Dr. Feng (Johnson) Qian]

Dr. Qian and his co-authors used the national Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure (GWTG-HF) registry from 2005 through 2012 to examine baseline characteristics, quality of care metrics, in-hospital mortality, discharge to home, and length of stay between Asian-American and non-Hispanic white HF patients. They found that despite some differences in clinical profiles, Asian-American patients hospitalized with HF received very similar quality of care and had comparable health outcomes to white counterparts.  They also reported that Asian-American HF patients were less likely to receive aldosterone antagonists at discharge and anticoagulation for atrial fibrillation even after risk adjustment. In addition to Dr. Qian, Drs. Edward Hannan and Benjamin Shaw from the department of health policy, management & behavior participated in the research. Scientists from the Ronald Reagan-UCLA Medical Center, John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute, Duke, Northwestern University, VA Boston Healthcare System, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard  Medical School contributed as well.

Read the full article: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167527315006634.