Treating all Asian Americans as a single group masks dangerous healthcare disparities that leave some patients receiving significantly worse care than white patients. A new study examining more than 800 hospitals nationwide reveals troubling treatment gaps among specific Asian ethnic subgroups hospitalized for heart failure.
Vietnamese men had 32% lower adjusted odds of receiving fully optimized guideline-directed medical therapy at discharge compared to non-Hispanic white patients. Filipina women fared even worse, showing 48% lower likelihood of receiving defect-free care. Both groups experienced significantly shorter hospital stays, with Vietnamese men and Filipina women 32% and 34% less likely to remain hospitalized beyond four days. This raises concern that discharge occurred before full optimization of therapy and patient education.
The disparities stem from systemic failures rather than patient outcomes. In-hospital mortality rates did not differ significantly across Asian subgroups, suggesting differences in care delivery drove the gaps. Nilay S. Shah, an assistant professor at Northwestern University, noted potential factors including English language proficiency, socioeconomic status, insurance coverage, and cultural norms related to healthcare.
The research underrepresentation of Asian Americans compounds these problems. Despite being the fastest-growing racial group in America, Asian Americans received only 0.17% of National Institutes of Health research funding between 1992 and 2018. Across the 14 largest cardiovascular cohorts, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander individuals comprised only about 2% of nearly 245,000 participants.
Andy Y. Lee, a heart failure cardiologist at UC Irvine, emphasized that disaggregating Asian American research data is essential to formulate actionable policy and clinical interventions promoting equity for all.
See: “Recognizing Asian Ethnic Diversity May Improve Heart Failure Care” (January 21, 2026)Â
