Last week’s election results may signal political winds sweeping attention away from diversity, equity, and inclusion, but new research papers again make the case that people in different socioeconomic groups have differing health outcomes of concern, including cardiovascular health disparities.

These four papers, being published Monday in scientific journals before being presented at the American Heart Association’s scientific sessions later this week in Chicago, focus on health disparities, including cardiovascular health disparities, linking who people are to how they fared.

We know Black women fare far worse than white women before and after childbirth. The particular problem of preeclampsia and eclampsia, which shows up as extremely high blood pressure late in pregnancy, is more severe in Black women, occurring at rates 60% higher than among white women. A leading cause of maternal mortality, preeclampsia heightens the risk of heart attack, stroke, heart failure, and death, with more than half occurring within the first two weeks after delivery. Black women face higher odds of these complications, even after taking into account socioeconomic factors or co-existing health conditions.

Cardiology care before delivery is intended to lessen that risk, but a study of nearly 30,000 insured patients’ health records found that serious cardiovascular events were more common in Black patients than white patients in the first year after delivery despite receiving this care. This pre-delivery cardiology care — something only 1 in 9 patients with preeclampsia receive —  was linked to a 69% lower risk for white patients but not for Black patients.

Seeing no effect for Black patients was surprising to Ikeoluwapo Bolakale-Rufai of Northwestern University, lead author of the study appearing in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. She called for further research to answer the question.

“Our hypothesis was that the receipt of cardiology care will reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events for both Black and white patients,” she wrote in an email to STAT. “We think additional strategies such as multidisciplinary care, optimal timing of care, and equitable anti-racist treatment may be needed to enhance the impact of cardiology care for Black patients.”

Read the full article about cardiovascular health disparities by Elizabeth Cooney at STAT News.