Black patients are less likely to get certain treatments after a heart attack than white patients, according to a new study.

They are also more likely to be dead within a year, according to the study from the VA Medical Center and the University of Iowa.

The study looked at what happened to more than 1.2 million patients ages 68 and older from 2000 to 2005. It checked to see if they were given procedures such a heart bypass or angioplasty that help restore blood flow to the heart.

If they went to a hospital that did not offer those services, 7.4 percent of black patients were transferred to one that did within two days. More than 11 percent of white patients were moved.

There was also a nearly six-percentage-point difference at 30 days.

Regardless of what kind of hospital they went to, black people were less likely to get the procedures, 34.3 percent to 50.2 percent.

The study's authors also reported that blacks were had a 12 to 26 percent higher risk of death 30 days to 1 year after a heart attack.