04 | 28 | 2008 Posted By Regan Zambri & Long

Heart Attack Patients Fare Better During Weekday Hospital Hours: New Study

Heart attack patients who arrive at a hospital during regular weekday hours tend to receive faster, higher-quality care than those who show up in the evenings, over the weekend or on holidays, according to new research published in a recent edition of the medical journal Circulation.

This latest study included 62,814 heart attack patients, 54% of whom arrived during these "off" hours. Those patients were found to be 7% less likely than others to undergo primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI -- also known as emergency angioplasty), and they were 6% less likely to undergo coronary artery bypass graft (CABG).

According to physician researchers, emergency angioplasty, or PCI, is typically the preferred corrective procedure following a heart attack caused by a completely blocked artery, to open the artery as soon as possible -- preferably within 90 minutes of the patient arriving at the emergency room.

In this latest study, the length of time from when the patient entered the hospital to when he or she received the procedure was an average of 110 minutes during off-hours, compared with 85 minutes during weekday business hours.  Those patients who arrived on evenings, weekends or holidays were 66% less likely to be treated within the 90-minute window for primary angioplasty -- a window recommended by both the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology.

In this study, death rates were found to be approximately the same for both groups of patients, a finding that does not square with similar findings by other research teams.

Previously on the DC Metro Area Medical Malpractice Law Blog, we have posted articles related to:

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