Jena, Prasad, Goldman, and Romley analyzed mortality and treatment differences among patients admitted with acute cardiovascular conditions during dates of national cardiology meetings compared with nonmeeting dates. They used a retrospective analysis of 30-day mortality among Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, or cardiac arrest from 2002 through 2011 during dates of two national cardiology meetings compared with identical nonmeeting days in the three weeks before and after conferences. They found that, in teaching hospitals, adjusted 30-day mortality was lower among high-risk patients with heart failure or cardiac arrest admitted during meeting versus nonmeeting dates. No mortality or utilization differences existed for low-risk patients in teaching hospitals or high- or low-risk patients in nonteaching hospitals. In sensitivity analyses, cardiac mortality was not affected by hospitalization during oncology, gastroenterology, and orthopedics meetings, nor was gastrointestinal hemorrhage or hip fracture mortality affected by hospitalization during cardiology meetings.
The full study is available at JAMA Internal Medicine.
Citation: Jena, A. B., Prasad, V., Goldman, D. P., & Romley, J. (2015). Mortality And Treatment Patterns among Patients Hospitalized with Acute Cardiovascular Conditions during Dates of National Cardiology Meetings. JAMA Internal Medicine.