Women Get Less Aggressive Heart Treatment-Study
Tue Mar 9, 5:52 PM ET
[This is one of the conclusions drawn from the material in the Millennium-funded CRUSADE registry].
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Women with serious heart conditions are getting less aggressive treatment in U.S. hospitals than men, researchers reported on Tuesday. That is even though women are at higher risk than men, and the aggressive therapies are shown to save lives, the researchers told a meeting of the American College of Cardiology in New Orleans.
"We found that, despite being at higher risk, women who arrive at the hospital with symptoms of a heart attack were less likely to receive recommended medications and procedures than men," said Dr. Andra Blomkalns of the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, who presented the findings.
"Through (this study), we are working to understand the reasons for this disparity so that we can ensure that all patients at risk for a heart attack, female or male, receive care that has been proven to save lives."
Blomkalns' team analyzed the records of more than 35,000 patients for their study.
They found that women admitted to hospitals with acute coronary syndrome were less likely than men to be given recommended therapies such as the blood thinner heparin, glycoprotein IIb-IIIa inhibitors, or procedures such as angioplasty to open clogged arteries.
Yet the women were more likely to die -- 5.6 percent of the women in the study died in the hospital versus 4.3 percent of the men. The women were usually admitted at an older age and a more advanced stage of heart disease, and thus should get more aggressive treatment, not less, the researchers said.
"This is one of the paradoxes that we see in medicine, that the patients who are in greatest need of effective therapies are not receiving them," said Dr. Judith Hochman of New York University School of Medicine, who worked on the study.
Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of both men and women in the United States. According to the American Heart Association (news - web sites), 267,000 American women die of heart disease each year. |
