Published 2 April 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b721
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b721

Editorials

Social deprivation and poor prognosis after cardiac surgery

Targeting cardiac rehabilitation after surgery at deprived groups is key

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Observational studies have shown that health, quality of life, and outcomes of medical interventions are worse in patients from socially deprived areas.^{1 2 3} These inequities seem to apply in private and nationalised healthcare systems for a range of surgical procedures.^{4 5} The founding tenets of the NHS are fundamentally linked to redressing imbalances in health between people from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Our inability to achieve equity in health since the inception of the NHS more than 60 years ago weighs heavily on policy makers and the healthcare community.⁶ The emergence of large disease registers and procedure registers is likely to continue to highlight these inequities.

The linked study by Pagano and colleagues (doi:10.1136/bmj.b902) identifies significant differences in mortality between different socioeconomic groups in 44 902 patients during the index admission and five years after a range of cardiac surgical procedures.⁷ The authors used the census based Carstairs scores as a . . . [Full text of this article]

¹ Edinburgh Heart Centre, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH16 4SA

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    StumbleUpon    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Home based cardiac rehabilitation could improve outcomes

Hasnain M Dalal, Jenny Wingham, Philip Evans, Rod Taylor, and John Campbell
BMJ 2009 338: b1921. [Extract] [Full Text]

Social deprivation and prognostic benefits of cardiac surgery: observational study of 44 902 patients from five hospitals over 10 years

D Pagano, N Freemantle, B Bridgewater, N Howell, D Ray, M Jackson, B M Fabri, J Au, D Keenan, B Kirkup, B E Keogh on behalf of the Quality and Outcomes Research Unit (QuORU) UHB Birmingham and the North West Quality Improvement Programme in Cardiac Interventions (UKNWQIP)
BMJ 2009 338: b902. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Dalal, H. M, Wingham, J., Evans, P., Taylor, R., Campbell, J. (2009). Home based cardiac rehabilitation could improve outcomes. BMJ 338: b1921-b1921 [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Offering home based cardiac rehabilitation could improve outcomes in socially deprived patients

Hasnain M Dalal, et al.
bmj.com, 29 Apr 2009 [Full text]

Online poll

Find out more here>> and here>>