Having a heart attack on the weekend slightly increases your risk of dying.

You may have heard that recent headline in national health news.  What about here in Portland?

We did some research on that.

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The issue is how long it takes from the time you hit the emergency department to the time you get treatment for your heart attack.  Differences in how long it takes for you to get a stent or angioplasty seem to make a slight difference in your survival rates. 

We asked area hospitals about their treatment times after a big study of more than 230,000 people found, "There's approximately a 1% increase in absolute mortality when people present with a heart attack on the weekends so for example, one out of every one hundred people who have a heart attack may die who shouldn't have died otherwise," said Dr. William Kostis with the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. 

Why?  Not all U.S. hospitals have consistent staffing on the weekends to do lifesaving procedures like angioplasty and stents.

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"We have the fastest time in the Portland metropolitan area," said Providence health system nurse Diane Reiner.  She says Providence also serves more heart attack patients than anyone else at of two hospitals: St. Vincent or Providence Portland.

Someone will get immediately transported to those hospitals if they walk into Providence Milwaukie, which adds to the time.

But, Providence says its weekend treatment times are comparable to weekdays.  By the way, Kaiser Permanente also sends its heart attack patients to St. Vincent.

"Our numbers as the result of great effort compare very favorably with the national averages," said Dr. Robert Florek, a cardiologist with Legacy Good Samaritan.

He says Legacy treats heart attack patients at its biggest hospitals like Good Sam and Emanuel, and averages about 90 minutes.  Like Providence it transports patients who walk into its smaller hospitals.  Weekends are around 20 to 30 minutes slower, but still mirror government standards.

"On our case this morning it was 48 minutes," said OHSU Cath lab director Dr. Joaquin Cigarroa.

He says his hospital meets the American College of Cardiology standard -- 90 minutes or less -- 100% of the time, including weekends.

"One should approach these patients the same way irrespective of day, and we have recognized this here," said Dr. Cigarroa.

Adventist Medical Center, which serves east Portland, told us its last 8 patients averaged a "door to treatment" of 78 minutes -- including nights and weekends.

And Southwest Washington Medical Center says it averages 71 minutes with nights and weekends only lagging two or three minutes behind weekdays.

The bottom line is every hospital we checked with was doing good, with Providence leading the pack.  There is much more on Stephanie's Health Blog including government websites to look up lots of information about your hospital.

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