Women get worse care after a heart attack than men – must they shout louder? | Ann Robinson

As a GP, this glaring gender divide is worrying. More must be done to fix the problem – and both men and women should avoid underplaying symptoms

Women are getting worse medical care than men after a heart attack, resulting in unnecessary deaths, according to a new analysis of 180,368 Swedish patients, followed up for 10 years after a heart attack. When women were given optimal treatment (surgery or stents, aspirin and statins), they did as well as men. And the situation is likely to be even more obvious in the UK, says the British Heart Foundation, which part-funded the study.

And is this glaring gender divide because women ignore their symptoms? Get different symptoms – more easily confused with indigestion? Are taken less seriously by GPs? Are less likely to have heart disease when investigated for chest pain? Are less likely to have tests such as an ECG? Receive different treatment in hospital? And are less likely to be offered implantable devices that prevent later deaths?

This study suggests that even once a heart attack is confirmed, that woman is less likely than a man to get recommended treatment

Related: The healthcare gender bias: do men get better medical treatment?

Continue reading... January 08, 2018 at 08:30PM