For several race-ethnicity-gender groups, statin use disparities are not explained by measurable differences in medical appropriateness of therapy, access to healthcare, or socioeconomic status, according to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. David A. Frank, MPH, and colleagues estimated disparities in statin use by race-ethnicity-gender and determined whether these are explained by medical appropriateness of therapy and structural factors in a cross-sectional analysis of 2015-2020 NHANES data. A lower prevalence of statin use was identified for primary prevention in non- Hispanic Black men and non-Mexican Hispanic women, and it was not explained by measurable differences in disease severity or structural factors (adjusted prevalence ratios [aPRs], 0.73 and 0.74, respectively). A lower prevalence of statin use was identified for secondary prevention among non-Hispanic Black men, other/multiracial men, Mexican American women, non-Mexican Hispanic women, non-Hispanic White women, and non-Hispanic Black women (aPRs, 0.81, 0.58, 0.36, 0.57, 0.69, and 0.75, respectively), which was not explained by measurable differences in disease severity or structural factors.
