136,000: Patients Treated in Hospitals Between 1994 and 2004 Who Would Have Died

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has observed sharp declines in the hospital death rates of patients from heart attack and five other leading conditions. The agency estimates that 136,000 patients treated in hospitals between 1994 and 2004 would have died had they been hospitalized in the previous decade.

For every 1,000 patients admitted, heart attack deaths declined by 43; deaths from congestive heart failure, pneumonia and stroke each dropped by around 30; deaths from gastrointestinal hemorrhage fell by 21; and hip fracture deaths declined by 16. For every 1,000 patients undergoing surgical procedures, abdominal aortic aneurysm repair deaths dropped by 29; craniotomy deaths fell by 15; deaths from heart bypass surgery fell by 20; angioplasty deaths declined by 4; carotid endarterectomy deaths decreased by 5; and deaths from hip replacement surgery fell by half from 4 to 2.

The data comes from Trends in Hospital Risk-Adjusted Mortality for Select Diagnoses and Procedures, 1994-2004; this report uses statistics from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample database.

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