Medicare less Patients hospitalized for heart problems

over a decade, the number of Medicare patients hospitalized for heart problems dropped, accounting for a smaller slice of the rate of hospitalization for 10 years as non-heart related issues, indicates new research.

The conclusion follows the largest effort launched in the last ten years (1998-2008) to measure the Medicare hospitalization patterns. Last year, Medicare hospitalizations totalled approximately 13 million patients, say the authors of the study.

The research is expected to be presented Thursday at the American Heart Association quality of care and research results in cardiovascular disease and stroke meeting, in Washington, D.C.

"We find that common heart disease of Accountants for a smaller proportion of hospitalizations in the United States," study lead author Amit h. Sachdev, a medical student fourth year at New York University School of Medicine, said in a press release of heart association. "We believe that this may reflect an improvement in the efforts of prevention and medical care and the provision of health care in the United States the last decade."

Sachdev and his colleagues found that while six of the eight leading causes of hospital admission have been on a downward trajectory these past ten years, heart disease hospitalization rates have fallen more rapidly than those attributed to other causes.

Among the issues of heart health, they found this artery coronary hospitalizations of illness in Medicare patients dropped the most (32%), followed by those motivated by heart attacks (in approximately 22% decrease). Heart failure hospitalizations also fell by 17%, consult the report.

Conversely, hospitalizations due to an irregular heart rhythm (cardiac arrhythmias) bucked the trend, going back more than 10%.

The researchers also found that a number of non-related heart issues fell as causes for hospitalization of health insurance, including pneumonia, fluid and electrolyte disorders and fractures of the hip.

Researchers have speculated that a targeted effort of Government to tackle diseases of the heart can explain the observed decline related hospitalizations.

"Heart disease is the leading cause of hospitalization for the United States, see you a lot of money from Government focused on cardiac conditions", said Sachdev.

Research presented at meetings is considered preliminary until published in a refereed journal.