MARILYNN MARCHIONE
AP Chief Medical Writer
People are more likely to buy things when prices end in 99 cents rather than rounded up to the next dollar, or cars with mileage under 1,000 instead of past that mark. Now researchers say something similar might be happening with age perception and heart surgery.
A U.S. study out Wednesday finds that heart attack patients who turned 80 within the previous two weeks were less likely to get bypass surgery than those who were two weeks shy of that birthday, even though the age difference is less than a month.
Guidelines do not limit the operation after a certain age, but doctors may be mentally classifying people as being "in their 80s" and suddenly much riskier than those "in their 70s," said the study leader, Dr. Anupam Jena of Harvard Medical
