Posted on: June 11, 2008
Gender Gap in Heart Health
Differing symptoms and treatments keep women at a disadvantage following cardiovascular events
By Matthew M. F. Miller
CTW Features
A failure to recognize and treat heart attacks and chest pain in women is a serious threat according to a new study from the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center, Ann Arbor. The culprit is the differing symptoms and treatments women experience.
The study, based on data from 25,755 men and women who had a heart attack or chest pain between 1999 and 2006, shows that women were twice as likely as men to have "normal" or "mild" results on an exam of their heart's blood vessels, with no single blockage taking up more than 50 percent of any one blood vessel. This was despite the fact that other test results showed they were definitely having a heart attack, or a form of chest pain called unstable angina.
"We've made great strides in treating women with heart disease, but these data show there's still much to be done - and that we need to find out whether women might have blockages that are 'invisible' on angiograms," says senior author Kim Eagle, M.D.
Some experts believe that blockages in smaller blood vessels that can't be seen on conventional angiograms are of a bigger concern for women. Their blockages may also be fleeting, disappearing before the images can be made.
In patients with the same level of coronary artery disease, women were significantly less likely than men to receive beta blockers, statins and ACE inhibitors - drugs which are considered crucial to preventing further heart episodes. Women also were less likely to receive an angioplasty or a stent to open up their blood vessels. Six months following a coronary episode, women with advanced coronary artery disease were more likely than men to have died, or to have suffered another heart attack or a stroke. The researchers also found that the symptoms women reported when they first reached the hospital were often different from those of which men complained, including nausea and jaw pain.
