Copyright
©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Cardiol. Dec 26, 2015; 7(12): 895-901
Published online Dec 26, 2015. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v7.i12.895
Published online Dec 26, 2015. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v7.i12.895
Inequalities in care in patients with acute myocardial infarction
Shabnam Rashid, Alexander Simms, Department of Cardiology, Leeds General Infirmary, West Yorkshire LS1 3EX, United Kingdom
Phillip Batin, Department of Cardiology, Pinderfields General Hospital, West Yorkshire WF1 4DG, United Kingdom
John Kurian, Department of Cardiology, Bradford Royal Infirmary, West Yorkshire BD9 6RJ, United Kingdom
Chris P Gale, Department of Cardiology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Rashid S, Simms A, Batin P, Kurian J and Gale CP contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Shabnam Rashid, MBChB, BSc, Department of Cardiology, Leeds General Infirmary, Great George Street, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS1 3EX, United Kingdom. shabnamrashid@doctors.org.uk
Telephone: +44-793-9976651 Fax: +44-113-3925751
Received: June 22, 2015
Peer-review started: June 26, 2015
First decision: August 10, 2015
Revised: September 24, 2015
Accepted: October 12, 2015
Article in press: October 13, 2015
Published online: December 26, 2015
Processing time: 185 Days and 12.3 Hours
Peer-review started: June 26, 2015
First decision: August 10, 2015
Revised: September 24, 2015
Accepted: October 12, 2015
Article in press: October 13, 2015
Published online: December 26, 2015
Processing time: 185 Days and 12.3 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death in developed countries. Guidelines exist for the management of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), yet despite these, significant inequalities exist in patient care. The elderly, deprived socioeconomic groups, females and non-Caucasians are the patient populations where practice tends to deviate from the evidence base. The purpose of this review article is to identify the inequalities in those who present with an AMI and explore potential reasons for this. Greater attention to the management and a better understanding of the root causes of these inequalities may help to reduce morbidity and mortality rates.