Quicker Response To Heart Attack Doesn’t Reduce Numbers

Quicker Response To Heart Attack Doesn’t Reduce Numbers

A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine said that even though doctors all across the United States have a quicker response to heart attack victims once they enter the hospital,  death rates haven't exactly dropped.

The data comes from 100,000 admissions from heart attack victims between 2005 and 2009. Even with new developments and improvements like emergency angioplasty, doctors are still unable to decrease the death rate that stayed fixed at 4.7 percent.

The study was made when doctors were pushing to reduce the time between the patients’ arrival at the emergency room and the time that a catheter with a balloon is inserted into his heart and inflated.

The researchers studied 515 hospitals and found that the 90 minute goal of the so called “balloon time” has dropped dramatically from an average of 83 minutes in 2005 to 67 minutes in 2009.

While it may sound like good news, researchers also found that the death rate didn't decrease as drastically as the “balloon time”, barely dropping from 4.8 percent in 2005 to 4.7 percent in 2009.

Researchers said that while the method didn't work, more prevention and awareness as to what leads to a heart attack and what symptoms should be expected when one happens could save more lives.

Posted by George Daniels on Sunday September 08 2013, 11:21 AM EST. Ref: cbs. Link. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0