Study reveals women more likely than men to die after heart attack; check details
By Team Newsable | First Published May 23, 2023, 12:04 PM ISTThe new research compared short and long-term outcomes after STEMI in women and men, and looked at whether any sex differences were apparent in both premenopausal (55 years and under) and postmenopausal (over 55) women.
A new study has revealed that women are more than twice as likely to die after a heart attack than men. The new findings highlighted the need for greater awareness of the risks of heart disease in women, researchers said.
According to the study, women aged 55 and below also had to wait 15 minutes longer for treatment after arriving at hospital. The earlier studies had revealed that women who have a heart attack when a major artery feeding into the heart is completely blocked – ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) – have a worse prognosis during their hospital stay compared with men.
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Experts have suggested that this may be due to their older age, increased numbers of other conditions, and stents being used less to open blocked arteries. Study author Dr Mariana Martinho of Hospital Garcia de Orta, in Almada, Portugal said, "Women of all ages who experience a myocardial infarction are at particularly high risk of a poor prognosis."
"These women need regular monitoring after their heart event, with strict control of blood pressure, cholesterol levels and diabetes, and referral to cardiac rehabilitation," Dr Mariana said.
"Smoking levels are rising in young women and this should be tackled, along with promoting physical activity and healthy living," the doctor further said.
The new research compared short and long-term outcomes after STEMI in women and men, and looked at whether any sex differences were apparent in both premenopausal (55 years and under) and postmenopausal (over 55) women. The study included 884 patients, with an average age of 62 years and 27 percent were women.
Women were older than men (average age 67 versus 60 years) and had higher rates of high blood pressure, diabetes and prior stroke, researchers found.
While the time between symptoms and treatment with stents did not differ between women and men overall, premenopausal women had a significantly longer treatment delay after arriving at hospital than their male peers – 95 versus 80 minutes.
The researchers also compared the risk of adverse outcomes between women and men after taking into consideration factors such as diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, coronary artery disease, heart failure, chronic kidney disease, peripheral artery disease, stroke and family history of coronary artery disease.
At 30 days, about 11 percent of women had died compared with 4.6 percent of men. At five years, nearly one-third of women (32.1 percent) had died compared with 16.9 percent of men. Meanwhile more than one-third of women (34.2 percent) experienced major adverse cardiovascular events within five years compared with 19.8 percent of men.
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The research, which has not yet been peer reviewed, was presented on Monday at Heart Failure 2023, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology.
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