NCT03463603: ASCEND

Ethnic Differences in Acute Coronary Syndromes Care in Emergency Departments.

Completed Last updated 14 March 2018

What this trial tests

trial in Acute Coronary Syndrome in 448 participants. Completed in 12 April 2017.

Timeline

7 October 2013

Primary endpoint
11 January 2017

12 April 2017

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	University of British Columbia
Status	Completed
Study type	OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment	448
Start date	7 October 2013
Primary completion	11 January 2017
Estimated completion	12 April 2017
Sites	3 locations across Canada

Conditions studied

• Acute Coronary Syndrome — all drugs for Acute Coronary Syndrome →
• Racial Bias — all drugs for Racial Bias →

Sponsor

University of British Columbia

Who can join

20 and older, any sex, with Acute Coronary Syndrome or Racial Bias. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

When doctors and nurses use accepted guidelines for quickly treating patients who come to the emergency department (ED) with a possible heart attack, patients do better. Research shows that there are racial-identity- and ethnicity-based differences in the symptoms these patients have, when and why they seek care, the treatments they receive, and how well they fare afterwards. There is also Canadian evidence that there may be racial-identity-based disparities in the care some patients receive, and it has been suggested that health professionals may unconsciously treat patients of different racial identities differently. But it is not known if there is racial-identity variation in the care given to Canadian patients with heart attack symptoms in the critical first hours after coming to an ED, or in their experiences of this care. The investigators collected information from the health records of patients who come to EDs with symptoms of heart attack. The investigators recorded events and times such as what provisional diagnosis was assigned to the patient, how often they received pain medication, how long until certain tests were performed and what treatments were offered. The investigators also collected information about things that might affect delivery of care, e.g., the number of doctors and nurses who were on duty. Participants also completed a short questionnaire about their reasons for coming to the hospital, how long they waited before coming and why, and what their experience in the ED was like. The investigators reviewed this information to see if there are racial-identity-based differences in the care received by patients with heart attack symptoms. The findings could identify important disparities, which could in turn inform future projects to correct these disparities, for example, education of health professionals about ethnic differences in ideas of health and illness.

Publications & conference data

No peer-reviewed publications indexed yet for this trial. Completed trials usually publish results within 12-18 months.