Women ‘dying from heart attacks because they are not offered the same treatment as men’ study finds

Care: Women should be offered the same treatment as men, experts have said
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Chloe Chaplain8 January 2018

More women than necessary are dying from heart attacks because they are not being offered the same treatments as men, experts have warned.

Female patients are less likely to receive the recommended care after suffering a heart attack, research has found.

And, in terms of patients who die from heart attacks, the gap between the sexes "decreased dramatically" when women were given the same treatments offered to men.

The study, part-funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, said the perception that heart attacks only affect men is preventing women from getting the best care.

Women who suffered a STEMI, the most serious form of heart attack, were more than a third less likely than their male counterparts to undergo bypass surgery or get stents, almost a quarter less likely to be given statins, and 16 per cent less likely to be given aspirin, the BHF said.

"Critically, when women received all of the treatments recommended for patients who have suffered a heart attack, the gap in excess mortality between the sexes decreased dramatically,” it added.

A study was carried out by researchers at the University of Leeds and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden into 180,368 patients who suffered a heart attack in a 10-year period to 2013.

Co-author professor Chris Gale said the perception that heart attacks only affect specific demographic needs to be shifted.

“Typically, when we think of a heart attack patient, we see a middle-aged man who is overweight, has diabetes and smokes,” he said. “This is not always the case.

"The findings suggest that there are clear and simple ways to improve the outcomes of women who have a heart attack - we must ensure equal provision of evidence-based treatments for women."

Professor Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said more women die from coronary heart disease than breast cancer in the UK.

"The findings from this research are concerning - women are dying because they are not receiving proven treatments to save lives after a heart attack,” he said.

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