A study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine found that patients admitted to the hospital for their first heart attack had a death rate that was 5% higher if they were admitted on the weekend.

What is the problem?

It is crucial to get treatment as soon as possible when a patient is having a heart attack. On the weekends, patients were more likely to have to wait. Weekend patients were less likely to get the invasive treatments such as angioplasty and stent placement in a timely manner. Many cardiac catheterization labs work with a smaller staff on the weekends.

What is a person to do?

First of all, the best thing to do is avoid getting a heart attack by preventing it from happening. The key is to be checked by your doctor and to modify your cardiac risk factors if you have them. That includes maintaining a normal blood pressure, low cholesterol, avoiding developing diabetes by exercising and maintaining a healthy body weight, not smoking, and (if appropriate), taking a baby aspirin a day.

If you do have underlying heart disease, it is possible to find it and treat it prior to having a heart attack. It is better to have a procedure such as an angiogram or an angioplasty under a controlled, elective situation versus an emergency.

If you do develop the symptoms of a heart attack (chest pain, jaw pain, shortness of breath, overwhelming fatigue, left arm pain) chew an aspirin, and call 911. The hospitals that specialize in heart disease and have cardiac surgery are the best ones to go to. They are more likely to be equipped for emergency cardiac procedures.

The key is to get to the hospital as soon as possible. Although the study showed an increase in mortality for heart attack patients on the weekend, it doesn’t mean you should wait. Furthermore, now that the results are out, my bet is that there will be some staffing changes for the majority of the hospitals around the country!