Health
Disparities found in heart care
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted March 27, 2006
Older, female and minority patients rushed to community hospitals with acute heart attacks are less likely to be transferred to a larger hospital that offers procedures to immediately open clogged arteries, Duke University Medical Center cardiologists reported at the American College of Cardiology's Annual Scientific Sessions in Atlanta.
The team of cardiologists found that women were 16% less likely to be transferred than men, and, compared with white patients, African-Americans were 31% and Hispanics 47% less likely to be transferred. Also, as the patients' ages increased, so did their chances of not being transferred.
Research has shown that even with the added transfer time, patients with an acute heart attack fare better with artery-opening procedures such as angioplasty or bypass surgery than those treated only with clot-busting drugs.
The researchers reviewed data from nearly 400,000 Medicare and Medicaid patients treated from 2001 to 2003.
The researchers said their findings should give physicians in smaller community hospitals more confidence about transferring these often sicker patients to larger hospitals where they would benefit from artery-opening procedures.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2006/03/27/hlbf0327.htm.
