A study has revealed heart attack patients with long-term health conditions could be at higher risk of death – because they’re less likely to receive sub-optimal care.
The aim of the research was to look into the frequency of missed opportunities to treat people after a heart attack.
A team of researchers from the University of Leeds analysed 693,388 cases of heart attack, in 247 hospitals in England 2003 and 2013.
The researchers looked at treatments that guidelines recommend be considered for patients who had a heart attack.
They assessed how often these treatments were given and compared this with whether guidelines at that time suggested that they were appropriate.
The team found that of the 40 per cent of patients with heart attack also had a long-term health condition, such as diabetes, stroke, heart failure and renal failure.
Experts also found 86 per cent did not receive optimal care and these patients had a 250 per cent increased risk of dying compared with patients who did not have a long-term condition.
The researchers also found that patients with heart attack and heart failure or renal failure were the least likely to receive optimal care.
Patients with heart failure received 7.3 per cent fewer treatments than heart attack patients with no long-term conditions.
Someone suffers a heart attack approximately every three minutes in the UK, with nearly 200 people of working age dying every week of a heart attack in the UK.
Professor Chris Gale, from the Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine, led the research.
He said: “This ten year national study of nearly 700,000 patients with heart attack shows for the first time how a wide range of long-term health conditions impacts on survivorship following acute myocardial infarction.
“Having a long-term health condition, such as heart failure, renal failure or diabetes in addition to a heart attack was significantly associated with worse a clinical outcome.
“While this was, in part, mediated by missed-opportunities in the delivery of care, evidence from this study suggests that there is a need for new therapeutic interventions to improve survival for patients with heart attack who also have long-term health conditions.”
The British Heart Foundation – BHF – part funded the research.
Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, which part-funded the research, said:
“It’s important that all patients receive the best possible treatments, regardless of any other conditions they might have. But it’s true that having another long-term condition can complicate things.
“Choosing the best treatment has to factor in the other medicines that the patient is taking, as well as the potential side-effects.
“This sometimes means a person doesn’t necessarily get the most effective treatments, but it still could be the best choice under the circumstances.
“This study shows that patients with long-term conditions could see substantial benefits if extra effort is put into deciding the best possible treatments.
“It also highlights the need for research to develop further treatment options for doctors and more effective medicines for these patients.”