Abstract
Introduction San Bernardino County has higher age-adjusted death rates due to cardiovascular disease (CVD) and a higher ratio of patients to primary care physicians when compared to the rest of California. With these trends, it is important to consider the impact on emergency departments (EDs). This study examines the burden of cardiac complications on EDs in San Bernardino County and across California. Additionally, it examines the difference in cardiac-related ED burden between hospitals inside and outside of primary care shortage areas (PCSAs). Methods Data were obtained from the California Health and Human Services Open Data Portal. Baseline comparisons used the calculated averages and percentage of ED visits that were cardiac-related. Further analysis was done using independent samples t-tests on IBM SPSS Statistics 28.0.1.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY), checking for statistically significant differences in ED burden between PCSA and non-PCSA hospitals and between different geographical regions of California. Results Independent samples t-tests showed that rates of cardiac-related ED visits do not differ by PCSA designation in San Bernardino (p > 0.05), but they are significantly higher in PCSA hospitals when looking at Southern California and California (p < 0.05). Additionally, rates of cardiac-related ED visits seen in San Bernardino were significantly higher than in the rest of Southern California and California (p < 0.001). Conclusion Higher rates of cardiac-related ED visits in PCSAs of Southern California and California indicate a need to address issues of primary care access and enhance preventive measures for CVD. Furthermore, the increased ED burden of cardiac cases in San Bernardino County highlights the requirement for localized intervention.