Treatments in poorly rated hospitals can increase the risk of recurrence of heart attack and death

Rutgers researchers found that heart attack patients treated in hospitals with low care scores had an increased risk of having another heart attack and / or dying for cardiovascular reasons.

Their study, published in American Journal of Cardiology, compared health care outcomes reported in New Jersey hospital performance reports with readmission rates after one month and one year following a heart attack or death from cardiovascular causes.

Researchers examined the electronic medical records of more than 160,000 patients in 80 New Jersey acute care hospitals from 2004 to 2015.

In poorly rated hospitals, 3% of heart attack patients returned to the hospital for a new heart attack within 30 days. At one year, 13% were readmitted and about 8% died of cardiovascular causes.

Patients admitted to a university hospital had a 25% lower chance of readmission after one month. At one year, the risk of cardiovascular death in these patients was 10% lower than that of patients initially admitted to a non-university hospital.

The study found a higher risk of new heart attack and / or death in patients with diseases such as acute heart failure, high blood pressure or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. But these risks have been reduced in patients treated in a university hospital.

"Hospital performance scores have a real impact on the health of patients with a heart attack," said lead author William Kostis, badociate professor at the Rutgers Cardiovascular Institute. Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. "We already knew that scores had an impact on patients' choices.When asked to prioritize hospital costs or hospital safety, patients prefer a safer hospital 97 percent of the time, whatever the cost. "

Kostis noted that health care providers can reduce the risk of death or recurrence of heart attack by calling them after discharge to determine whether they are taking their medications as prescribed.