Study: Most first-time heart attacks could be avoided

[Minnesota Public Radio, November 15, 2010] Most first-time heart attack patients are not taking well-known medications that could have prevented their heart attacks, a study by a group of Twin Cities cardiologists found.

The study, presented Monday during an American Heart Association meeting in Chicago, may mark the first time research has looked at the treatment patients received prior to their heart attack.

Dr. Kevin Graham, president of the Minneapolis Heart Institute, said when the team at Abbott Northwestern Hospital examined the medical records of 815 first-time heart attack victims, they found that very few were taking any preventative therapy.

Read and hear the story at mpr.org.