ADOBE
Many Black Americans would have to travel across county lines just to find an open spot with a cardiologist, a new analysis found.
About 16.8 million Black Americans — roughly 1 in 3 — live in counties with little or no access to heart specialists, according to a report from GoodRx, a digital health company that provides drug discounts and also researches health trends.
When zooming in on counties that have sizable Black populations, the analysts found that 72% of these counties are “cardiology deserts,” most of them concentrated in southeastern states.
The findings illustrate the barriers to accessing care for a population that already faces a disproportionate burden from cardiovascular disease. It’s the leading cause of death in the U.S., and Black Americans face a 30% higher risk of death from heart disease than white people.
“We’re missing a huge chunk of individuals who really need this care and are having to jump through massive hoops to access that care,” said Tori Marsh, director of research at GoodRx. “When you have to jump through those hoops, you’re likely not going to.”
Prior research shows that counties with a high proportion of Black and Hispanic people already have less access to primary care doctors, often the first type of provider that people go to. But even if patients are able to get primary care, they would still need to see a cardiologist to address specific or urgent issues like heart failure and heart attacks, said Rishi Wadhera, a cardiologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
He noted that the report doesn’t account for how much access to telehealth services people have. But still, many services like cardiac stress tests can’t be performed remotely, said Wadhera, who’s also the section head of health policy and equity at the Smith Center for Outcomes Research.
The researchers also analyzed what the risk of heart disease looked like for people living in cardiology deserts. Using data on diabetes, obesity, smoking, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, and excessive alcohol consumption, the researchers assigned a score of 0 to 6 to counties, with a higher number meaning a greater risk of heart disease in that county.
