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Women Need to Be in Heart Disease Trials

Posted on: Friday, 19 November 2004, 15:00 CST

A U.S. researcher said clinical trials involving treatments for heart disease must ensure that women participate.

Dr. Andrea Russo, a University of Pennsylvania physician and lead investigator in the Multicenter UnSustained Tachycardia Trial, said the study, published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology, showed women with abnormal heart rhythms benefit from implantable cardioverter defibrillators as much as men.

Russo said previous studies have raised the concern of possible gender bias in favor of men in the evaluation and treatment of heart disease.

The MUSTT study looked at the influence of gender in 2,202 patients with coronary artery disease and an abnormal heart pumping function. The most significant differences were that the women in the trial were older, more likely to have had a heart attack within six months of enrollment, more likely to have experienced angina within six weeks prior to enrollment, and less likely to have atrial fibrillation than the men.

As cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in both men and women, this also emphasizes the importance of ensuring that women have access to the ICD, in addition to any other life-saving cardiovascular therapies, Russo wrote in the study.

Source: United Press International

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