Differences in treatment patterns and outcomes of acute myocardial infarction for low- and high-income patients in 6 countries
Published in JAMA, 2023
Question: How do treatment patterns and outcomes for older patients presenting with acute myocardial infarction differ for low- vs high-income individuals across 6 countries.
Findings: In this study of 289 376 patients aged 66 years or older hospitalized with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and 843 046 hospitalized with non-STEMI across 6 health systems, adjusted 30-day and 1-year mortality rates were higher for low-income patients, whereas rates of cardiac catheterization and percutaneous coronary interventions were lower. High-income patients also had shorter length of stay and lower rates of readmissions.
Meaning: These results suggest that income-based disparities were present even in countries with universal health insurance and robust social safety net systems.
Landon, B. E., Hatfield, L. A., Bakx, P., Banerjee, A., Chen, Y. C., Fu, C., Gordon, M., Heine, R., Huang, N., Ko, D. T., Lix, L. M., Novack, V., Pasea, L., Qiu, F., Stukel, T. A., Groot, C. U. D., Yan, L., Weinreb, G. G., & Cram, P. (2023). Differences in treatment patterns and outcomes of acute myocardial infarction for low- and high-income patients in 6 countries. JAMA, 329(13), 1088.
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