Majority of Canadians have access to optimal life saving heart treatment

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Posted February 4, 2010

By Jordanna Heller

Alka Patel, MGIS, and Dr. William Ghali: Photo credit: Bruce PerraultIf you have a heart attack, the optimal treatment is to get to a hospital within one hour -- and that hospital also needs to be equipped to open a blocked blood vessel that connects to your heart.

According to a study by UCalgary Faculty of Medicine scientists published this week in the on-line journal Open Medicine, 63.9 per cent of Canadians 40 years and older have access to this treatment, known as a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

"About two thirds of Canadians have access to the procedure, but it is still a challenge because the geographic access to this treatment varies widely across provinces," says Dr. William Ghali, a member of both the Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta and the Calgary Institute for Population and Public Health (CIPPH). "PCI is the best treatment for a heart attack but you need to get to a properly equipped hospital quickly."

Access to a PCI facility in Canada depends on where you live. Ontario has 14 facilities, where more than 70 per cent of adults 40 and older have access to PCI. Calgary has the lowest heart attack death rate in Canada, where local people have access to Foothills Medical Centre which offers PCI 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

At the other end of the spectrum, only 15.8 per cent of adults aged 40 and older in New Brunswick have access to PCI. In the three territories and on Prince Edward Island there are no PCI facilities.

"Geography plays a role in analyzing how service is delivered, and in people’s access to potentially lifesaving health care," says Alka Patel, a PhD candidate in the Department of Community Health Sciences, and the first author on the study. She worked with a team of national cardiovascular outcomes researchers to conceptualize the study, and collected and analyzed the geographical data for the study.