White men with chest pains treated fastest in ERs

HealthDay/Washington Post, March 17, 2008

White men who arrive in emergency rooms with chest pains get treatments for heart trouble faster than African-Americans or women do, according to a study by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The numbers are not clear-cut evidence of discrimination on the basis of race and sex, said the study's authors. Emergency room responses may be based on evidence that ischemic heart disease is more common among those who get faster treatment, and that chest pains are more likely to have other causes in nonwhites and women, said researchers.