Study points to need for better coordinated care, more effective use of medications
FRIDAY, June 24, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Patients with diabetes are much more likely to die after an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) than patients without diabetes, according to a study published online June 15 in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
Researchers included 703,920 patients in the study, all of whom were hospitalized with AMI between January 2003 and June 2013. In total, 120,568 patients had diabetes.
Compared to patients who didn’t have diabetes, those with the disease were 56 percent more likely to die if they had an AMI caused by a completely blocked coronary artery. If their AMI was the result of a partially blocked coronary artery, patients with diabetes were 39 percent more likely to die.
“These results provide robust evidence that diabetes is a significant long-term population burden among patients who have had a heart attack,” lead researcher Chris Gale, M.B., B.S., Ph.D., a consultant cardiologist and associate professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, said in a university news release. “Although these days people are more likely than ever to survive a heart attack, we need to place greater focus on the long-term effects of diabetes in heart attack survivors.”
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