Heart Care Different for Sexes

Despite showing signs that they might be having a heart attack, some women aren’t treated as aggressively as men in such situations, a new study headed by a University of Cincinnati researcher says.

Using data on 40,912 patients collected from 391 U.S. hospitals, researchers analyzed the diagnosis and treatment of patients whose electrocardiograms indicate a type of heart strain or heart muscle damage.

“We found that women were less likely to receive many of the standard and recommended therapies and procedures for this condition,” said lead researcher Dr. Andra L. Blomkalns,of the Department of Emergency Medicine at UC’s College of Medicine.

“They’ve already been diagnosed — and even after that, they’re not being treated (as aggressively as men).”

The analysis took into account that female heart patients tend to be older and sicker than male patients; yet even after making that statistical adjustment, women were less likely to get recommended treatments and tests.

“Across the board with very rare exceptions — women got fewer medications, fewer therapies — the blood clotting agents, they got it less,” Blomkalns said.

The study was featured last week in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Blomkalns said she believed several factors contribute to the difference in treatment.

“Coronary disease is still considered both by lay public and by physicians as a man’s disease,” she said. “Most of the initial studies were done with mostly men. Men get it about 10 years earlier than woman, and several studies have shown that men and women present differently.” In other words, they have different types of symptoms.

Despite receiving less treatment, women in the study were just as likely to survive as men.

Blomkalns asks, “Might women do even better if they got guideline- recommended therapy?”

The research is the first major study since the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association put together new guidelines in 2002 for treating heart patients with the type of heart strain in question.

Blomkalns said she hopes the American College of Cardiology/ American Heart Association takes note of the study as part of its national quality improvement initiative.