FRIDAY, June 26 (HealthDay News) -- Hispanic patients undergoing isolated coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery in Massachusetts are more likely than either Caucasian or African-American patients to have a lower quality surgeon, according to a study in the June 15 issue of the American Journal of Cardiology.

Luis R. Castellanos, M.D., of the University of California in Sacramento, and colleagues analyzed data from the Massachusetts Data Analysis Center Registry on CABG procedures from 2002 to 2004. The surgeons were ranked for performance based on 30-day all-cause patient mortality (top decile, top quartile, bottom quartile, and bottom decile). The researchers analyzed surgeon assignment as it related it to the race and ethnicity of the patient (Hispanics, Caucasians, and African-Americans).

Overall, the researchers found that CABG procedures were performed by 56 surgeons on 11,800 Caucasians, 413 Hispanics, and 251 African-Americans. Caucasian patients were more likely to be treated by surgeons in the top decile than the bottom decile (odds ratio, 1.37), while Hispanic patients were more likely to be treated by surgeons in the bottom than the top decile (odds ratio, 2.85). Caucasian and African-Americans were similarly likely to be treated by surgeons in the top- and bottom-quality groups.

"In conclusion, Hispanics undergoing isolated CABG in Massachusetts were more likely to be operated on by cardiac surgeons with higher risk-standardized mortality rates than by surgeons with lower rates," the authors write.

Abstract
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