18, November 2014

Heart attack at hospital ups death risk

It may defy common sense but an Indian-origin cardiologist has found that patients who experience a certain type of heart attack during hospitalisation face greater risk of death than outpatients.

The heart condition the researchers focused is called ST-elevation myocardial infarction.

Prashant Kaul from University of North Carolina found that patients developing inpatient-onset STEMI had more than three-fold greater in-hospital mortality than those with outpatient-onset STEMI (33.6 percent vs 9.2 percent). STEMI is a certain pattern on an electrocardiogram following a heart attack.

"The question of how to improve outcomes and define optimum treatment in hospitalised patients who experience a STEMI is an area that merits more attention and concern," Kaul noted.

"Although there have been improvements in treatment times and clinical outcomes in outpatients who have onset of STEMI, few initiatives have focused on optimising care of hospitalised patients with onset of STEMI after admission," he explained.

This study included an analysis of STEMIs occurring between 2008 and 2011 as identified in the California State Inpatient Database.

A total of 62,021 STEMIs were identified in 303 hospitals.

Patients with inpatient-onset STEMI were less likely to be discharged home (33.7 percent vs 69.4 percent), the findings showed.

The study appeared in JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

18.11.2014

Reduce salt intake for better kidney health

Too much salt in one's diet increases the risk of contracting kidney problems, says a new research.

The researchers found high sodium intake (an average of 4.7g a day) is linked with an increased risk of needing dialysis, but no benefit was seen for low sodium intake (average 2g a day).

"Our findings extend the known benefits of healthy eating and show that the consumption of a healthy diet may protect from future major renal events," said Andrew Smyth from the National University of Ireland, Galway.

"As dietary modification is a low-cost, simple intervention, it offers the potential to significantly reduce the burden from chronic kidney disease, while also protecting from cardiovascular disease," Smyth added in the study involving 544,635 participants.

These findings were confirmed by a separate study that found that reducing salt intake reduces albuminuria, or excess protein in the urine, which is a hallmark of kidney dysfunction.

In the study involving 120 rural villages in China, researchers analysed the results of an 18-month sodium reduction programme.

The findings of the study led by Meg Jardine from The George Institute for International Health, in Australia and her colleagues revealed that individuals who underwent sodium reduction had a 33 percent decreased likelihood of having albuminuria compared with individuals in the control villages.

Both the studies were presented at ASN (American Society of Nephrology) Kidney Week Nov 11-16, 2014 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

18.11.2014

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