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Half of Heart Deaths Occur On the Way to Hospital

By Henry J. Fishman, M.D.
ConsumerAffairs.com

January 6, 2006

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About half the deaths from heart disease occur before people get to the hospital, according to a large study recently reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It included deaths from heart attacks, abnormal heart rhythms and other causes.

According to the study, nearly 47 percent of the people who died from heart disease did so on the way to the hospital. Another 17 percent died in or near the emergency room.

Women had worse luck than men -- 53 percent died before getting to the hospital versus 42 percent for men.

These results point to the need for a national program to detect and treat heart disease early, before hospitalization.

We've worked hard as a nation to prevent heart disease with lifestyle changes, new medications and to treat folks in the hospital with the latest medications and technology.

But we need to work even harder on CPR, defibrillators and public education, to help folks sick with heart disease before they get to the hospital.

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