Nineteen percent of homeless patients who suffered a heart attack died in the hospital, compared to 6 percent of other patients, according to a study presented Oct. 22 at the 2020 Canadian Cardiovascular Congress.
The study also found that homeless heart attack patients were younger, more likely to be men and more likely to suffer from mental health conditions.
“The elevated risk at a younger age could be related to chronic stress from being homeless, higher rates of smoking, poverty, and unreliable access to healthy food,” Samantha Liauw, MD, study author and researcher at the University of Toronto, said in a European Society of Cardiology news release.
The study included 2,856 heart attack patients from 2008-17, 75 of whom were homeless.
Findings were presented during a virtual meeting of the 2020 Canadian Cardiovascular Congress and are awaiting peer review.
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