Women, Minorities Less Likely to Get Best Heart Attack Care

White male patients are most often transferred to high-quality medical centers, study finds

By Janice Billingsley
HealthDay Reporter

Related Encyclopedia • Alzheimer's Disease • Amenorrhea • Amniocentesis • Amniocentesis and CVS More... Related Healthscout Videos Super Kids: Genius Sperm Bank? Super Kids: 8 Ways to Boost Your Baby's Brain Power Resurfacing Hips Saving Memories More... Related Animations • Alzheimer's Disease • Angioplasty • Breast Reduction • Cholesterol More... Related Drug Information • Accupril • Actonel • Altace • Avapro More... Related News Articles • Heartburn or Heart Attack? Know the Symptoms • Whole-Grain Cereals Cut Heart Risks: Study • Hispanic Women's Hearts at High Risk: Study • Second-Born Twin Has Higher Post-Delivery Death Risk More...

MONDAY, March 13 (HealthDay News) -- When it comes to receiving the best care after heart attack, the deck is stacked against women, minority populations and older people, new research suggests.

Thirty-five percent of patients over age 64 who are rushed to local community hospitals with acute heart attacks are then transferred to larger hospitals for more aggressive interventions -- procedures known to improve survival rates, the researchers said.

Text Continues Below

---

But the study found that, in many cases, a person's medical condition has little to do with the decision of who gets to go to the larger hospitals.

Besides health concerns, "age, gender and race are predictive of whether or not patients are transferred after a heart attack from a community hospital to a larger hospital," said lead researcher Dr. Jeffrey Berger, a cardiology fellow at Duke University Medical Center.

His team found that younger, white males were significantly more likely to be sent to high-quality care at larger centers, compared to women or minority patients.

Treatment at larger centers, which have the technology and staff to perform angioplasty and bypass surgery, does make a difference in terms of patient outcomes, Berger said. In their analysis of nearly 400,000 cases involving patients over the age of 64, the researchers found post-heart attack mortality rates of 8.7 percent for patients transferred to larger centers vs. 18.5 percent for those treated at smaller community centers.

Heart attack treatment at community hospitals includes giving the patient powerful clot-busting drugs, Berger said. But he noted that research has shown that, even with the added transfer time to another hospital, surgical interventions tend to have a better outcome than using drugs when it comes to treating a heart attack.

Berger presented the findings Sunday during the annual scientific sessions of the American College of Cardiology, in Atlanta.

Page:  1 | 2 | Next >>