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January 4th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda TUESDAY, Jan. 3 (HealthDay News) — People who have heart attacks
in the United States are far more likely to be readmitted to the hospital
within 30 days than people in 16 other countries, a new study
indicates.
Researchers suspect that the average length of stay, which was just
three days in the United States compared with at least six days in other
countries, is the main reason for the higher readmission rates. When they
completed an analysis that adjusted the data for length of stay, they
found that location was no longer a predictor of readmission.
“We found two striking predictors of 30-day readmission. Having
multi-vessel disease and being in the U.S. This difference is probably
multifactorial, but the length of stay is the shortest in the U.S. It was
three days here and six, seven or more in other countries,” said study
senior author Dr. Manesh Patel, an assistant professor of medicine in the
division of cardiology at Duke University in Durham, N.C.
“When we adjusted for the length of stay, the difference went away.
We’re really good at opening up their arteries, but we provide more
episodic care. Our systems of care may not be as integrated as they are in
other countries. We need to make the link from the hospital to the primary
care doctor to ensure that patients are getting set up in cardiac rehab
and that they’re following up with a cardiologist,” Patel said.
And, while the study found that U.S. patients had higher readmission
rates after a heart attack, Patel noted that mortality rates weren’t
higher in the United States.
Results of the study are published in the Jan. 4 issue of the
Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study looked at people who were hospitalized for a specific type of
heart attack called an ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).
This type of heart attack accounts for up to 38 percent of all heart
attacks, according to background information in the article, and the
coronary artery is completely blocked by a clot in these cases.
The study included 5,745 people from 296 hospitals in 17 countries who
were admitted for a STEMI. Most (5,571) survived to be discharged from the
hospital. Of those, 11.3 percent overall ended up being readmitted within
30 days.
Thirty-day readmission rates in the United States were 14.5 percent,
but just 9.9 percent in the other countries in the study. The average
length of stay was three days in the United States compared with eight
days in Germany, the country with the longest average length of stay.
People who had multi-vessel disease, which means they had more than one
blockage leading to the heart, were almost twice as likely to be
readmitted to the hospital within 30 days, according to the study.
The other significant predictor of readmission within 30 days was being
in the United States. After excluding people returning to the hospital to
have additional elective procedures, people admitted in the United States
had a 53 percent greater chance of being readmitted within 30 days vs.
people in other countries.
After adjusting the data to account for differences in the patients,
such as age and underlying health conditions, the researchers found a 14.4
percent readmission rate in the United States vs. a 9.3 percent rate for
all of the other countries. Italy had the lowest readmission rates at 4.4
percent, followed closely by Germany at 4.8 percent. Canada had a 5.6
percent adjusted readmission rate, according to the study.
“This study compared the U.S. against 16 other countries and asked how
do we [the U.S.] measure up? And, their findings were a little disturbing.
About 60 percent of patients with major heart attacks were discharged in
three days or less. And, our readmission rates were higher than in other
countries. We have the technology and the ability to provide quality care,
but we’re just not doing well. Even for the sickest patients, we’re not
doing well,” said Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, a preventive cardiologist at
Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, and a spokesperson for the American
Heart Association.
“This is probably not just about length of stay, but may also be about
follow-up. It might really be OK to leave the hospital in three days, but
you have to understand what the follow-up is. You need to understand the
treatment plan, the medications, the follow-up appointment schedule, the
cardiac rehab and the diet. If these things are all in place, readmission
rates would probably go down,” Steinbaum said.
“We’re not sure that staying in the hospital longer would keep you from
being readmitted. We know we provide good initial care. But, how well is
that care transferred from the hospital to the home? We have to make sure
patients know how they need to follow up,” Patel said.
More information
Learn more about what type of care is necessary after a heart attack
from the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
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