Evaluation of patient characteristics and utilisation of invasive cardiac procedures in a UK ethnic population with unstable angina pectoris

Objectives: To evaluate patient characteristics and utilisation of invasive cardiac procedures in a UK ethnic population with unstable angina pectoris (UAP). Design: Retrospective, observational study. Setting: Tertiary referral cardiology centre in the United Kingdom serving a large Asian ethnic population. Subjects: White and Asian patients undergoing PTCA for UAP over a 2.5-year period at a UK referral cardiology centre from a comprehensive PTCA database. Data were also collated for all emergency admissions with unstable angina, or angina (type unspecified), to our institute. Main outcome measures: Demographic and angiographic characteristics of patients undergoing PTCA. Frequency of usage of invasive cardiac procedures was determined in emergency angina admissions. Results: From January 1997 to July 1999, 435 White and 36 Asian patients underwent PTCA for UAP at our institute. Asian patients were on average 4.4 years younger (P=0.015), had 19.3% more diabetes (P=0.003) and 19.7% less smoking (P=0.007). Trends to more single vessel disease in Whites and more double vessel disease in Asians were observed, with similar rates of triple vessel disease. Interestingly, Asians also had trends towards more left-sided coronary artery disease and revascularisation, smaller vessels and less bail-out stenting. Asian patients were significantly less likely to undergo coronary angiography, OR 0.64 (CI 0.45–0.91, P=0.012), during the index admission, and showed a trend to less PTCA. Conclusions: Asian patients with unstable angina pectoris appear to have clinical and angiographic differences from their White counterparts, and are less likely to have invasive cardiac procedures deployed. The reasons for these observations require elucidation and the prognostic significance of these findings is uncertain.