By Suzanne Rostler

NEW YORK, Mar 29 (Reuters Health) - Providing immediate, state-of-the-art medication and health education to heart attack patients can keep them alive long after they have left their hospital bed and save thousands of lives each year, researchers report.

The study compared 302 patients who took part in CHAMP (Cardiac Hospitalization Atherosclerosis Management Program), a hospital-based program for patients hospitalized with heart disease, with 256 patients cared for by individual physicians.

According to the investigators, patients in CHAMP were less likely to suffer a repeat heart attack or land back in the hospital one year later. These patients were also more likely to be taking medication such as aspirin and cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, which can lower a person's risk of having a heart attack.

Levels of LDL ("bad") cholesterol, a major risk factor for heart disease, also were lower among patients who participated in the program, the authors explain in the April issue of the American Journal of Cardiology.

"By initiating treatment in the hospital, patients better understood how important the medications are to their long-term health and were more likely to remain on therapy," Dr. Gregg C. Fonarow of the University of California, Los Angeles, the study's lead author, said in a prepared statement.

For example, 94% of program participants were using aspirin a year after being discharged from the hospital, compared with 68% of patients who did not take part in the program. Aspirin can help prevent blood clots--a major cause of heart attacks.

The researchers also note that one year later, nearly half of CHAMP patients were using ACE inhibitors, drugs that can prevent heart attacks and lower mortality rates of patients with heart failure. Only 16% of patients who did not take part in the program were using these drugs. Similarly, 91% of program patients were using statin drugs compared with 10% of patients in the other group.

The rates of repeat heart attack and hospitalization were also lower among program participants. Just over 3% of CHAMP patients suffered another heart attack one year later, compared with 7% of patients in the other group.

Fonarow estimates that if hospitals throughout the country implemented the program, about 40,000 lives would be saved each year and medical costs could be reduced.

The study, he told Reuters Health, "provides a compelling scientific foundation for in-hospital initiation of cardioprotective therapies becoming the national standard of cardiac care."

In a statement from the American Heart Association (AHA), Dr. Sidney Smith, chief science officer of the AHA stated, "This study shows that the key to keeping heart disease patients alive is providing them with immediate and thorough treatment before they walk out of the hospital."

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