CORRECTED: Heart devices may help women less than men: study

Corrects headline to read “Heart devices may help women
less than men.”.. instead of “Heart devices may help less women
than men.”

ATLANTA (Reuters) – Implanted devices designed to shock the
heart into a normal rhythm may not be as effective in women as
they are in men, researchers said on Monday.

Researchers at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut and the
University of Connecticut evaluated five previous trials of
Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) and found that
ICDs cut the risk of death by 24 percent in men compared with
12 percent in women. ICDs are stopwatch-sized devices placed in
the chest to regulate a dangerously fast heart beat with a jolt
of electricity.

Nickole Henyan, lead author of the study and a pharmacist
at Hartford Hospital, said the researchers could not explain
why men experience more benefits from ICDs than women.

Henyan said the findings, presented at a meeting of the
American College of Cardiology, needed to be confirmed by
future research. It is possible that other studies that
included more women might give different results, she said.

The majority of clinical trials of ICDs have involved male
patients.