Shrilla Banerjee, MD, FRCP, consultant cardiologist, Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, shares what politicians and clinical trialists can do to help mitigate cardiovascular health disparities.
Shrilla Banerjee, MD, FRCP, consultant cardiologist, Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, describes the social determinants of health (SDOH) that she sees contributing to cardiovascular health disparities in the United Kingdom and what politicians and clinical trialists can do to help mitigate these issues.
Transcript
What are some SDOH that further contribute to cardiovascular health disparities, and what strategies might mitigate their impact on health outcomes?
There are some changes that need to be implemented by politicians. We need to advocate for our patients and lobby politicians to improve living conditions, minimum wage, and the expectation of access to food for school children. It's something that doesn't strike me on a regular basis, because it's not something I'm exposed to, but we have children in schools in the UK who don't eat a proper meal apart from when they go to school.
So, in fact, if we gave [food] access to all school children, it wouldn't be a huge cost but it would improve the quality of life and the lived experience of children from minority populations and from more deprived populations—it's not only minority populations. And it would improve their health care and then their well-being as they go into adulthood, because if you have poor health care nutrition in childhood, it often leads to poor health outcomes as an adult as well.
So there's lots of things we can think about on an institutional level, but on a personal level, obviously addressing your own bias. We need to make sure that our patients who have more economic challenges are encouraged to enroll in clinical trials and be supportive in that way as well.
We perhaps need to make a quota in research. We're suggesting that now for women. Women are often 20% or 30% of clinical trial participants when they're 50%, 52% of the population. So why isn't it 50/50? Certain conditions impact women at a later age, so if there's an age cutoff, you can understand that there may be less women in the age group being randomized. But actually it's not difficult to find more mixed populations, and I think we need to encourage that. If you encourage trialists to enroll more people of color, then I think we'll get more relevant data.
Dr Kathy Zackowski Discusses the Importance of Rehabilitation Research and Trials in MS
April 26th 2024Kathy Zackowski, PhD, National MS Society, expresses the inherent value of quality rehabilitation trials for broadening clinical understandings of multiple sclerosis (MS) and bettering patient outcomes.
Read More
Examining Low-Value Cancer Care Trends Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic
April 25th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the authors of a study published in the April 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about their findings on the rates of low-value cancer care services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Listen
Mental Health Diagnoses, Care Challenges Rise Among US Youth, Report Finds
April 26th 2024While behavioral health care utilization has been rising, the treatment landscape has been worsening. New findings show that 20% of youths did not receive any form of treatment within 3 months of their initial behavioral health diagnosis.
Read More
Empowering Community Health Through Wellness and Faith
April 23rd 2024To help celebrate and recognize National Minority Health Month, we are bringing you a special month-long podcast series with our Strategic Alliance Partner, UPMC Health Plan. In the third episode, Camille Clarke-Smith, EdD, MS, CHES, CPT, discusses approaching community health holistically through spiritual and community engagement.
Listen
HOPE-CAT Can Identify Maternal Cardiovascular Risk 2 Months Earlier Than Doctors, Study Says
April 25th 2024In a retrospective study, the machine learning tool was able to screen for potential risks of cardiovascular disease nearly 60 days before the patient's medical record showed any signs of a related condition or before they were officially diagnosed or treated for it.
Read More
Dr Dalia Rotstein: Physicians Must Be Aware MS Affects People of All Backgrounds
April 24th 2024Dalia Rotstein, MD, MPH, emphazises the importance of awareness that multiple sclerosis (MS) impacts patients from various backgrounds as clinicians think through ways to improve access to care and research efforts in MS.
Read More