Black patients undergoing mitral transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (M-TEER) were more likely to present with more advanced disease, had lower procedural success and higher heart failure (HF) readmission rates vs. White patients, and female patients had lower procedural success rates vs. male patients, according to a recent study published in Structural Heart.

Using data from the STS/ACC TVT Registry, Kyeeun Park, MD, et al., included 9,441 patients who underwent M-TEER for functional mitral regurgitation (FMR) – 58% were male, 80% White, 16% Black and 3% Asian. They compared 30-day and 12-month all-cause and HF hospitalizations and mortality by race and sex to determine disparities in outcomes.

Overall, Black patients exhibited lower LVEF and larger left ventricle dimensions compared to White patients, and 30-day procedural success rates were 48.9% among Black patients vs. 57.0% for White patients (p<0.001). The authors also observed greater odds of HF hospitalization at 12 months among Black patients (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.35; 95% CI, 1.09-1.67; p=0.006). Meanwhile, Asian patients had comparable outcomes to White patients.

Looking at outcomes by sex, there was lower 30-day procedural success in female patients vs. male patients (48% vs. 61%; p<0.001); however, disparities were not seen in adjusted outcomes at one year. "[F]emales experienced higher rates of all-cause and HF readmissions within 30 days, although the findings were not adjusted for confounding factors and a small overall incidence difference; this makes the clinical implication uncertain," note the authors.

Park and colleagues add that their findings "underscore the need for tailored, patient-specific management strategies and highlight the importance of addressing structural inequities in health care to improve outcomes for all patients with FMR."