Brief Review: Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Cardiovascular Care with a Focus on Congenital Heart Disease and Precision Medicine

Abstract

Purpose of Review: This is a brief review about racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare with focused attention to less frequently covered areas in the literature such as adult congenital heart disease, artificial intelligence, and precision medicine. Although diverse racial and ethnic populations such as Black and Hispanic groups are at an increased risk for CHD and have worse related outcomes, they are woefully underrepresented in large clinical trials. Additionally, although artificial intelligence and its application to precision medicine are touted as a means to individualize cardiovascular treatment and eliminate racial and ethnic bias, serious concerns exist about insufficient and inadequate available information from diverse racial and ethnic groups to facilitate accurate care. This review discusses relevant data to the aforementioned topics and the associated nuances. Recent Findings: Recent studies have shown that racial and ethnic minorities have increased morbidity and mortality related to congenital heart disease. Artificial intelligence, one of the chief methods used in precision medicine, can exacerbate racial and ethnic bias especially if inappropriate algorithms are utilized from populations that lack racial and ethnic diversity. Summary: Dedicated resources are needed to engage diverse populations to facilitate participation in clinical and population-based studies to eliminate racial and ethnic healthcare disparities in adult congenital disease and the utilization of artificial intelligence to improve health outcomes in all populations.