Thursday, March 15, 2007

Study Ties Heart Attack Deaths to Weekend Care

study of nearly all heart attack patients in New Jersey finds that those who arrived at a hospital on a weekend were less likely to get aggressive treatment and were slightly more likely to die than those who arrived during the week, researchers are reporting.
The study, based on an analysis of 231,164 heart attack patients admitted to New Jersey hospitals from 1987 to 2002, found a gap of almost a percentage point in heart attack death rates over a three-year span: 12.9 percent for weekend patients versus 12 percent for weekday patients. (The deaths occurred within a month of admission.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/health/14cnd-heart.html?ex=1331524800&en=49ff635470635463&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

No comments: