for eMaxHealth
Location, location and location for heart attack too. Apparently location is important even in survival of heart attack and heart failure patients.
Dr. Harlan Krumholz and colleagues have reported the results of a study showing location may affect the 30-day mortality for heart failure patients by as much as 300%. Their results are published online in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.
Krumholz and colleagues analyzed the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) database covering the period July 2005 to June 2008. They looked at the figures reflecting mortality and readmissions with a discharge diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (MI) or heart failure. There were almost 600,000 MI patients and almost 1.5 million patients with heart failure.
The researchers analysis revealed that location of the treating hospital had a huge impact on survival of heart attack. The mortality spectrum ranged from 10.9% to 24.9% for heart attack and from 6.6% to 19.8% for heart failure.
The top five states with the lower mortality rates and hence the preferred location if you have a heart attack include New Jersey, Vermont, New Hampshire, Washington, and Oregon.
The bottom five states with the highest mortality rates and hence the places you would like to not be include Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, and Louisiana.
The authors did not look into the possible reasons for the differences.
Source
Patterns of hospital performance in acute myocardial infarction and heart failure 30-day mortality and readmission" Circulation Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes 2009; DOI: 10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.109.883256.; Krumholz HM, et al
eMaxHealth welcomes your comments and feedback on this story without registration, but keep the comments meaningful please. Links are not accepted.
