Heart Disease Diagnosis 'is Failing Poor' Expert Says Too Many Patients Dying
Posted on: Friday, 28 October 2005, 15:01 CDT
By JOHNMcCANN Health Reporter
THOUSANDS of Scots may be dying because they don't get the lifesaving heart treatment they need.
And the blame could lie with the current system of identifying those most at risk, says a report today.
It is claimed that current assesment procedures do not take account of the added risks linked to poverty.
Today a top doctor in Glasgow warned patients, particularly those in deprived areas or who do manual jobs, were dying as a result.
A report in the British Journal of General Practice reveals scientists at Glasgow and Bristol universities analysed 10 years of records for people living in Paisley and Renfrew.
The report involved 12,304 men and women who didn't have heart disease but 10 years later, 696 people had died from cardiovascular disease.
According to a system used by doctors to identify at-risk patients, 290 of these were not regarded as being in danger.
Now scientists are warning doctors must lower the measures of blood pressure and cholesterol considered - the risk score - when deciding whether to give manual workers and patients in poor areas treatment to prevent an attack.
They say it has meant that in some cases, patients in need don't get drugs, such as statins, to lower cholesterol or tablets to control blood pressure.
Professor Graham Watt, of Glasgow University, said: "Of the near- 300 additional deaths, perhaps a third could have been prevented or postponed."
When expanded to consider the whole of Scotland, thousands of lives are at risk.
A spokesman for Health Minister Andy Kerr said the Executive would improve local services.
In last night's Evening Times we revealed how "health police" would be sent to people living in deprived areas who are most at risk of serious illness in an attempt to get them to see a doctor.
The couch potato culture is to be tackled as part of a 20-year plan to turn around the nation's poor health record.
john. mccann@ eveningtimes. co. uk
Source: Evening Times; Glasgow (UK)
Related Articles
- Warning: Unauthorized Wild Vineyard Products Pose a Risk to Health
- Previously Unrecognized Harm of Intensified Glucose Lowering Reported in High Risk Patients With Type 2 Diabetes
- CoreValve Announces That More Than 1,000 High-Risk Patients Have Been Treated With Its ReValving(R) System for Percutaneous Aortic Valve Replacement (PAVR)
- ALR Technologies Receives FCC License for Their Patient Health Management Compliance System, the Constant Health Companion
- FDA Approves Noxafil(R) (Posaconazole) Oral Suspension For Prevention of Life-Threatening Fungal Infections In High-Risk Patients
- Fever Patients in Epidemic Area Ruled Out of Bird Flu Infection
- Baptist Now in BCBS Network BlueOptions Policyholders Will Have Lower Co-Pays at Health System's 5 Area Hospitals.
- High-Risk U.S. Patients Lack Flu Shots
- Respiratory Viral Infections in High-Risk Patients
- CDC Flu Plan Protects High-Risk Patients
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds