Heart Attack Deaths In Hospitals Plummet
(AP) In just six years, death rates and heart failure in hospitalized heart attack patients have fallen sharply, most likely because of better treatment, the largest international study of its kind suggests.
The promising trend parallels the growing use of cholesterol-lowering drugs, powerful blood thinners, and angioplasty, the procedure that opens clogged arteries, the researchers said.
“These results are really dramatic, because, in fact, they’re the first time anybody has demonstrated a reduction in the development of new heart failure,†said lead author Dr. Keith Fox, a cardiology professor at the University of Edinburgh.
The six-year study involved nearly 45,000 patients in 14 countries who had major heart attacks or dangerous partial artery blockages. The percentage of patients who died in the hospital or who developed heart failure was nearly cut in half from 1999 to 2005.
Source: www.cbsnews.com
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