Roma ethnicity and outcomes of coronary artery disease: Mortality, clinical status and self-rated health

The aim of this thesis was to explore care whether health outcomes differ between Roma and non-Roma patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) undergoing coronary angiography (CAG). We found that Roma had worse outcomes in this case. Roma CAD patients entering specialized cardiologic care already have a significantly worse health status than their non-Roma counterparts. The mortality in Roma during eight years after CAG is about twice as high as the mortality of the non-Roma patients, also after adjustment for differences in age and gender. Educational level explains some of the differences but treatment after CAG not. The lack of ethnic differences in improvement by treatment of the health status and self-rated health in Roma CAD patients after CAG when compared to non-Roma suggests that the origin of these differences fully lies in the trajectory before entry into the health care process. These facts should urge the physicians, general practitioners and cardiologists to refer Roma patients for the diagnostics and adequate treatment of CAD earlier than nowadays. We hope that this thesis will contribute to a better understanding of the relatively poor prognosis of Roma CAD patients.