A Swedish study attempting to identify differences in international standards of care suggests countries with poorer performance should learn from countries that have better outcomes, according to an article published in The Lancet.
Researchers were comparing 30-day heart attack mortality rates between Sweden (7.6 percent) and the U.K. (10.5 percent) and found significant differences independent from the case mixes in the two countries.
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The disparity may be caused by differences in frequency of preferred therapies and treatment techniques, according to the article, however, there are many potential contributing factors, such as "multiple unmeasured features of care, including doses, timing, adherence to drugs, differences in operator experience, shared and specialty care pathways, use of decision-support tools, and organizational culture," according to the study authors.
The researchers suggest international data sharing could accelerate the rate at which care improves.
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