When hospitals follow the guidelines deaths from heart attack are halved

A study by an international team of researchers say they have found that deaths from severe heart attacks after hospital admission have almost halved in six years.

In a study involving 44,372 patients, in 113 hospitals, in 14 countries, it has been found that death rates fell from 8.4% to 4.5% between 1999 and 2006.

The researchers say this good news can be attributed to treatments such as angioplasty to unblock arteries and anti-clotting drugs which they say are the key.

Lead researcher Professor Keith Fox a cardiologist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, says the study supports the fact that hospitals are using new treatments effectively and the decrease is reflected in fewer heart failure events and further heart attacks and strokes.

The advent of improved preventative treatments such as statins and the emphasis on healthier lifestyles and diets, has meant heart disease rates have been falling for several decades.

This latest study however is the most comprehensive one yet to examine the success of hospital treatment once patients are admitted with heart attacks or serious angina.

The researchers say along with the fall in death rates for severe heart attacks, where the arteries were completely blocked, deaths from milder attacks were also reduced from 2.9% to 2%, and patients with both severe and milder heart attacks were less likely to suffer from strokes and further heart attacks in the following months.

Experts say the risk of critical heart failure, a weakening of the heart which can be brought on by heart attacks, fell from 7.1% to 4.7%.

The researchers also say the use of drugs such as beta blockers and aspirin have been vital to this progress.

Professor Fox says patients now have a much reduced risk of dying or having another stroke while being treated in hospital and are also less likely to suffer a stroke or further heart attack once they have been discharged.

Medical experts say the positive results are proof that long-term investment in heart research is vital and for patients around the world the data shows a significant drop in deaths in hospitals but also a significant drop in stroke and heart failure.

The study involved patients being treated in countries such as the UK, Canada, Germany, France and Spain.

Research has shown that the quicker a patient receives appropriate treatment, such as having a blocked artery opened up with angioplasty, the better the outcome.

The American College of Cardiology and many other groups recommend that heart attack patients should receive angioplasty within 90 minutes of entering the hospital.

Fox's team found that when hospitals follow such guidelines, patients are more likely to survive the heart attack and have fewer cases of heart failure and stroke even by six months later.

The research is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.