Some heart patients not getting treatment: study (USA)

Some patients with congestive heart failure are not receiving recommended medicines that could keep them alive longer and out of the hospital, a trend that may be adding to the nation's health costs, U.S. researchers say. A team at Stanford University School of Medicine in a study conducted over 15 years found that patients got prescriptions for drugs that would help their condition in fewer than half of doctor visits, and that number was falling. "There are some recommended medications for heart failure that have been proven to be effective against mortality and morbidity, to lower hospitalizations and improve death rates," said Dr. Dipanjan Banerjee, a cardiologist at Stanford who worked on the study released in the Archives of Internal Medicine - Reuters