On Monday, April 20, 2009, Michael McWilliams, MD, PhD; Ellen Meara, PhD; Alan Zaslavsky, PhD; and John Ayanian, MD, MPP published the article, “Differences in control of cardiovascular disease and diabetes by race, ethnicity, and education: US trends from 1999-2006 and effects of Medicare coverage” in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Their article received substantial attention because they addressed a health care issue of great concern. McWilliams, Meara, Zaslavsky, and Ayanian wanted to know if health gaps between racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups have decreased over time and if these disparities are narrowed with universal health insurance coverage. The researchers conducted this study by reviewing measures of blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar collected from over 6,000 adult participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999-2006. The researchers found that these indicators of disease control have improved significantly since 1999, but racial, ethnic, and educational disparities in disease control have persisted or widened. In contrast, differences between these groups were substantially reduced with near-universal Medicare coverage after age 65 and in some cases completely closed. These findings suggest that expanding coverage for the uninsured would improve health outcomes for many adults with cardiovascular disease or diabetes.

For more information, read the article itself, the Harvard Medical School press release, or media coverage by The Heart.org, The Boston Globe, The New Republic, and Reuters.