研究人员3月8日报告称，在冬季假期时入院的美国心脏病患者，死亡率比起年内其它时间入院的患者的要高。

研究人员发现，心脏病患者如果在年末两周和年初两周内出现症状，他们很可能无法得到可拯救性命的药物或者接受相应的治疗。

研究人员表示，报告确认了此类一般认为的常规状况确会发生，即诊所、急救室和其它保健机构在冬季假期时工作效率没有达到最佳。

此项研究领导者、北卡罗莱纳杜克大学心脏病专家梅内博士（Dr. Trip Meine）及其同事在新奥尔良举行的美国心脏病学院（American College of Cardiology）会议中表示，他们对1994年至1996年间美国医院内134,609名心脏病患者的医疗记录进行了研究。

他们将12月最后两周和1月份前两周患者接受的治疗和生死状况，与当年内其他48周患者的状况进行了对比。

“差距很是明显，在（冬季）假期内发病的心脏病患者接受打开阻塞之扩张术的比率为12.5%，而其余时间的比例则为15.3%；冬季假期内患者的死亡率为22.5%，而其他时间则为20.5%，”梅内博士表示。

“医疗保健系统应该一周七天，全天候24小时运行，不可休假。不仅医师如此，所有保健机构、医院和其他救援人员都应如此。”

Study: Don't Have a Heart Attack Over Christmas

Mon Mar 8, 2004 11:36 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Heart attack patients sent to U.S. hospitals during the winter holidays are more likely to die than those admitted during the rest of the year, researchers reported on Monday. Heart patients were less likely to receive drugs and procedures known to save the lives if they showed up over the last two weeks and first two weeks of the year, the researchers found. They said their report confirms what common sense would dictate -- that clinics, emergency rooms and other health facilities do not operate at top efficiency over the holiday period. "The decrease we found in proven treatments and the increased mortality suggests that critical services for life-threatening illnesses such as heart attack need to be maintained at full levels during holiday seasons," Dr. Trip Meine, a cardiologist at Duke University in North Carolina who led the study, said in a statement. "The health -care system needs to run 24-7, and it cannot take a vacation. That includes not just the physicians, but all the other members of the health care team, as well as hospital and support employees." Speaking to a meeting of the American College of Cardiology in New Orleans, Meine and colleagues said they studied the records of 134,609 heart attack patients admitted to U.S. hospitals from 1994 to 1996. They compared the treatments and fates of patients admitted during the last two weeks of December and the first two weeks of January to those admitted during the other 48 weeks of the year. "Significantly, heart attack patients admitted during this holiday period were less likely to receive angioplasty to open clogged arteries (12.5 percent versus 15.3 percent for those admitted the rest of the year), and had an increased mortality rate (22.5 percent versus 20.5 percent)," Meine said. While previous studies have shown an overall increase in heart attacks during the winter months, Meine's team found no differences among regions of the country, suggesting that the increased incidence cannot be fully explained by climate alone. Other studies have found that patients with different types of illnesses tend to fare worse if they are admitted to the hospital on weekends instead of during the week.