Senthil Selvaraj, Stephen J Greene, Iyanuoluwa Ayodele, Brooke Alhanti, Larry A Allen, Sabra C Lewsey, Srinath Adusumalli, Nosheen Reza, Adrian F Hernandez, Clyde W Yancy, Anupam B Jena, Gregg C Fonarow, Deepak L Bhatt
BACKGROUND: Heuristic biases are increasingly recognized, and potentially modifiable, contributors to patient care and outcomes. Left digit bias is a cognitive bias where continuous variables are categorized by their left-most digit. The impact of this heuristic bias applied to patient age on quality of care in heart failure has not been explored. METHODS: We examined participants admitted from 2005 to 2021 in the Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure registry. To create 2 naturally randomized groups, isolating the effect of left digit bias, we dichotomized patients into those discharged within 60 days prior to their 80th birthday (N=4238) and those discharged within 60 days after their 80th birthday (N=4329)...
December 2, 2022: Circulation. Heart Failure