Study shows many Australian heart patients die needlessly

An extensive study of heart attack patients has found some patients in Australia are dying unnecessarily.

The study - the Acute Coronary Syndromes Prospective Audit, carried out by researchers from Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide, involved 3,402 patients at 39 hospitals across the country between November 2005 and July 2007.

Professor Phillip Aylward, director of medicine, cardiac and critical care at Flinders Medical Centre says the study to the evaluate shortfalls in heart attack treatment showed better treatment guidelines are needed because many deaths are unnecessary.

The study found that around a quarter of patients do not get proper treatment in the year after their first attack for a range of reasons - drug treatment, both in hospital and after discharge, and in hospital treatment when doctors assess whether a patient needs 'stents' and bypass surgery.

Professor Aylward says the elderly and women lose out as do those in remote areas and both the medical community and the public need to be educated about the importance of treatments; he says systems need to be put in place which enable patients to access big city hospitals.

Professor Aylward says doctors do not necessarily believe all the treatments apply to all the patients and patients themselves often fail to take follow up long-term and critical medication when they leave hospital.

Professor Aylward says because about 25 per cent of patients do not get the treatments they should this leads to more adverse events, further heart attacks and more patients dying.

While only around 60 per cent of heart patients receive angiograms during their hospital stay, those given the test for heart blockages had a better chance of survival.

Lead author Derek Chew, a professor of cardiology at Flinders University, says it is vital the gaps in medical care are addressed and that patients continue prescribed treatment.

One in four Australians die within one hour of their first symptom of a heart attack and 40 per cent die within one year of a heart attack.

The researchers suggest that there is a need for more long term use of invasive management among patients who have suffered a serious heart problem.

The study is published in the Medical Journal of Australia.