Friday, January 9, 2009

New study finds women more likely to experience delays in care following heart attack
By Kelly Winget, DCRI Communications

A new study involving several DCRI researchers found that women are less likely to receive evidence-based treatment in the recommended time frames following a heart attack, and that women have higher rates of death following a heart attack than men do.

The DCRI's Adrian Hernandez, MD; Li Liang, PhD; Kristin Newby, MD, MHS; and Eric Peterson, MD, MPH were involved with the study. Study results appear in the December 16/23 issue of Circulation.

Researchers analyzed data from the Get With the Guidelines – Coronary Artery Disease database for indications of differences in care and in-hospital death rates based on gender. The analysis included data on more than 78,000 patients who were hospitalized for a heart attack from 2001 to 2006. The female patients were typically older, had more co-existing health conditions and less frequently had the type of heart attack that can be detected by an ECG by indicating changes in the heart's electrical activity.

Researchers found that women were less likely to receive aspirin treatment or beta-blocker treatment within the first 24 hours of their hospitalized care, even though treatment guidelines for heart attack patients recommend the use of aspirin and/or beta-blockers within that timeframe.

The female patients were also less likely to undergo angioplasty to widen blocked arteries within the recommended 90 minutes after being admitted to the hospital.

After making adjustments for the data, researchers found that the in-hospital mortality rates were similar for men and women. However, researchers also found that women who had heart attacks that did trigger changes in the heart's electrical activity had higher early mortality rates (occurring within the first 24 hours after hospitalization) and were less likely to undergo an invasive procedure such as angioplasty during that time period.

Researchers hope the findings can lead to improvements in care for hospitalized female patients.

Click here to read the full study.