Poor patients often wait to get heart attack treatment

People in low-income neighborhoods and those on Medicaid often don't receive quick heart-attack treatment that can be crucial to survival, according to a new study.

Heart-attack victims living in neighborhoods with a median income of less than $33,533 a year were more likely to arrive at a hospital after a medium or long delay rather than within two hours of heart attack symptoms, the study found.

"There are certain time-dependent treatments for a heart attack, and patients arriving too late after the onset of symptoms would not be eligible for them," said Randi Foraker, a researcher at the University of North Carolina who led the study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. "They should get to the hospital fast in order to be treated with these important, time-dependent treatments."

The treatments, such as clot-dissolving therapy or heart catheterization to reopen blocked arteries, are more likely to be given to patients arriving at the hospital quickly, the authors reported. Such treatments boost a patient's chance of recovery and survival.

The study didn't examine why residents of lower income neighborhoods or those who use Medicaid, the government program for low-income people, had a slower response time to get to hospitals, Foraker said.

"It could be they hesitate if they know they are not fully covered with a prepaid insurance or HMOs," she said.

Foraker said awareness campaigns should be targeted in lower-income areas and for those using Medicaid.