In:
Circulation, Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health), Vol. 135, No. suppl_1 ( 2017-03-07)
Abstract:
Introduction: Having trouble paying for medical care (i.e., medical cost hardship) may impair disease management and thus increase risk of clinical CVD events among adults with CVD risk factor conditions. Hypothesis: We hypothesized medical cost hardship was associated with incidence of CVD among individuals with diagnosed hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, or diabetes. Methods: CARDIA recruited 5,115 individuals aged 18-30 years in 1985-6 (year 0); we included 2,273 participants who self-reported hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, or diabetes or were taking prescription medications for these conditions at years 10, 15, 20, or 25 (45.2% of all participants). At these visits, medical cost hardship was also queried. CVD events were adjudicated from records of hospital admissions, outpatient procedures, and deaths through 2013. Median follow-up time from initial risk factor diagnosis was 12.4 years. Adjusted Cox proportional hazards models determined hazard ratios (HRs) for the first incident CVD event, examining initial and time-varying medical cost hardship. Results: At first report of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, or diabetes, 27% of subjects reported medical cost hardship, while 51% did so at subsequent examinations. There were 131 CVD events during follow-up. Adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic factors, initial medical cost hardship was a more robust predictor of incident CVD than time-varying cost hardship, HRs 1.54 (95% CI: 1.03, 2.30) and 1.36 (0.88, 2.12), respectively (Table). Risk factor control partially attenuated the association between medical cost hardship and CVD, as did access to healthcare. We found no significant interaction by race and sex. Conclusions: Medical cost hardship was associated with incident CVD in this sample of high-risk individuals, possibly via risk factor control or access to care. Identification of cost hardship at the time of high-risk diagnosis may facilitate connection to low-cost care, improving risk factor control and preventing clinical CVD.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0009-7322
,
1524-4539
DOI:
10.1161/circ.135.suppl_1.p338
Language:
English
Publisher:
Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Publication Date:
2017
detail.hit.zdb_id:
1466401-X
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