JEDDAH, 14 February 2007 — In a step to improve health care provided to patients suffering with heart conditions, the Saudi Heart Association announced recently that the first phase of a research project has been completed.
Dr. Khalid Al-Habib, head of the Department of Cardiology at King Khaled University Hospital, is one of 20 doctors involved with a national program to track Saudi patients who have had heart attacks to see how they handled the emergency and how they were treated once they reached hospital.
More than 1,200 patients have been registered in the study since its inception in December 2005, according to Al-Habib. The research and interviews have been conducted at 14 centers throughout the country under the guidance of cardiologists and internists.
“Heart attacks are the most common cause of death worldwide and in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as well. The purpose of the registry is to document the clinical features, management and outcome of patients who have experienced heart attacks in participating hospitals in the KSA, and subsequently improve the standard of care provided to them,” said Al-Habib.
In the next phase of the project, the doctor said data would be not only collected but also posted on an online database “similar to other major international registries”.
“The benefit from this registry will be indirect, and it will help us identify our standards in terms of treatment and diagnosis in order for us to compare it with the international standards; therefore, we would pinpoint our weaknesses and try to enhance it through different measures such as the patient’s education, number of hospital visits and the treatment program,” said the doctor.
“In the first phase of the registry and we have identified a number of critical points that need to be addressed in order to improve treatment procedures in the Kingdom. The coming phases will successfully help us to identify our weaknesses and we will endeavor to provide the best means of treatment for heart patients,” said Dr. Mustafa Yousuf, head of Prince Sulman Cardiology Center at King Fahd Medical City.
According to the study, patients in the Kingdom arrive later than they should to the emergency room and further delays occur once they arrive.
“We have noticed that most patients who experience heart attacks take a considerably long time to get to hospital than they should,” said Al-Habib. “Once at the emergency room, there seems to be delays in getting anti-clotting drug treatment.”
The registry of such patients will also help doctors root out the cause of diabetes, which is bordering on endemic in Saudi Arabia.
“What is remarkable is the high prevalence of diabetes compared to the national figures in other countries,” said Al-Habib. “The cause of this high prevalence is not clear so far and we view this as a great opportunity for further research,” he added.
“I would like to encourage all hospitals in the Kingdom that treat heart-attack patients to be involved in such a registry that will result in the improvement of the health care of such population,” said Al-Habib.
