Heart-attack patients fare better with specialized outpatient care

BOSTON (AP) _ Heart attack patients fare better if treated by a specialist after leaving the hospital rather than by a general-care doctor, a government-backed study suggests. <br><br>Earlier studies had

Wednesday, November 20th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

BOSTON (AP) _ Heart attack patients fare better if treated by a specialist after leaving the hospital rather than by a general-care doctor, a government-backed study suggests.

Earlier studies had indicated that such patients did better with hospital care by cardiologists, but less was known about how they fared in the months of outpatient care that followed.

The latest findings by Boston researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School were published Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine.

They studied Medicare data from 35,520 patients age 65 or older in hospitals in California, Texas, New York, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

Patients under a cardiologist's outpatient care were more likely to be younger, white and male.

After two years, 14.6 percent of patients with outpatient care from a cardiologist had died, compared with 18.3 percent of a similar group of patients under the sole care of a family doctor or internist.

The patients under specialized care underwent more medical procedures and rehabilitation, perhaps accounting for the difference between the two groups.

Patients who saw both kinds of doctors showed an even lower death rate _ 11.1 percent to 12.1 percent.

In an accompanying editorial, Nicole Lurie and Melinda Beeuwkes Buntin of the Rand research institute in Arlington, Va., said more care by cardiologists or medical teams could help ease the long-recognized disparities in health care between whites and minorities.

The study was funded by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.