If you have a heart attack in this country you’ll probably go home from the hospital sooner than if you were in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, or 13 European countries. But possibly as a result, you’re also more likely to have to return to the hospital, according to a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Researchers looked at more than 5,500 people in 16 countries who suffered the same type of heart attack between July 2004 and May 2006. While there was no difference in mortality rates, about 15 percent of those in the U.S. were readmitted to the hospital within 30 days, compared with an average of about 10 percent of heart-attack victims in the other countries. U.S. heart-attack patients stayed in the hospital an average of just three days, compared with eight days for similar patients in Germany, which had the longest average length of stay.

When the researchers adjusted for the length of stay, the difference in readmission rates among the countries disappeared, which suggests that the shorter length of stay in the U.S. is related to our higher readmission rate.

John Santa, M.D., director of the Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center, says:

It’s unclear whether heart-attack victims in the U.S. need to stay in the hospital longer or if they need better discharge planning and better follow-up care, but clearly too many of them are being sent home before they’re ready.

The researchers looked only at patients who suffered a ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), a type of heart attack in which the coronary artery is completely blocked by a blood clot. This type of heart attack makes up 29 to 38 percent of all heart attacks, according to the researchers. The study also found that patients who had blockages in more than one vessel leading to the heart were nearly twice as likely to be readmitted.

See our advice on recognizing and responding to heart attacks. Use our heart calculator to estimate your risk of having a heart attack, our heart-surgeon Ratings to find a good doctor, , and our hospital Ratings for information on hospital readmission rates and other information about hospital safety and performance.

Source
International Variation in and Factors Associated With Hospital Readmission After Myocardial Infarction [JAMA]