Poor people are more likely to remain in failing health after a heart attack than wealthy people, Science Daily reported.
Researchers at Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine found that people with low-income backgrounds and less education who suffered a heart attack remained in "frail" conditions with frequent health problems years after the first attack.
Those who were poor were more than twice as likely to stay sick than their wealthier counterparts, Science Daily reported. Researchers used the word "frailty" to determine the cumulative effect of physical and psychological issues that build up over time, making people, especially the elderly, less able to ward off illness.
The study results were published in the International Journal of Cardiology.
"By defining frailty, which combines many areas of medicine, we can predict which people are at the highest risk after a heart attack," researcher Vicki Myers, who worked on the study, told Science Daily. "And we found a strong connection between frailty and socioeconomic status."
Researchers studied the medical information of 1,151 people in Israel who had heart attacks 10 to 13 years ago, Science Daily reported. The researchers also paid attention to the other ailments the patients suffered from, including depression, type-2 diabetes, difficulty using limbs and deterioration of the heart.
The results showed that 35 percent of the patients' health continued to deteriorate in the years following their heart attacks. The same poor patients were also more likely to be obese at the time of the first heart attack, Science Daily reported.
In addition, the frail patients were less likely to receive the medical care they needed, or the recommended medication usually prescribed after heart attacks.
"Not only was low income associated with twice the risk of becoming frail, living in a deprived neighborhood was linked to a 60 percent increased risk of frailty compared to living in a wealthy neighborhood, irrespective of personal circumstances," Myers told Science Daily.
Myers and her fellow researchers hope their results will encourage policy makers to help improve access to healthcare in underprivileged neighborhoods, Science Daily reported.
