Mental Disorders and Use of Cardiovascular Procedures After Myocardial Infarction

Article Abstract:

People with a mental illness may be less likely to to receive a revascularization procedure if they have a heart attack. Revascularization procedures are done to restore blood flow to the heart and include angioplasty and coronary bypass surgery. In a study of 113,653 patients hospitalized with the symptoms of a heart attack, those with a mental illness were less likely to have cardiac catheterization or a revascularization procedure. However, once they had a cardiac catheterization, they were just as likely as other patients to have a revascularization procedure.

Mentally ill persons, Demographic aspects, Mentally ill, Myocardial revascularization

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Quality of care for Medicare patients with acute myocardial infarction: a four-state pilot study from the Cooperative Cardiovascular Project

Article Abstract:

Critical medical interventions may be contraindicated in many elderly heart attack patients and appear to be underused in those who are ideal candidates for treatment. Researchers applied 11 quality-of-care indicators to data in medical records and Medicare bills of 12,332 heart attack patients. Ninety percent of patients were inappropriate candidates for thrombolytic therapy during initial hospitalization and 70% were inappropriate candidates for beta blocker therapy at hospital discharge. Of the patients for whom medical interventions were warranted, only 45% received beta-blockers at hospital discharge and 29% of smokers received smoking cessation advice. Only 11% of patients treated with thrombolytics received the drugs within 30 minutes of hospital arrival as recommended by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Aged, Elderly, Drug therapy, Hospitalization

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Improving the quality of care for Medicare patients with acute myocardial infarction: results from the Cooperative Cardiovascular Project

Article Abstract:

The Cooperative Cardiovascular Project has shown that compliance to quality of care indicators can lower mortality rates in elderly patients hospitalized with a heart attack. The project encouraged hospitals in Alabama, Connecticut, Iowa and Wisconsin to offer thrombolytic drugs, aspirin, beta blockers, ACE inhibitors and smoking cessation advice to all eligible elderly heart attack patients. Follow-up revealed that compliance with these guidelines improved substantially and mortality rates declined. The hospitals in the study were more compliant than a sample of hospitals nationwide that were not part of the study.

Cardiac patients

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