- Researchers say younger women tend to have worse outcomes after having a heart attack than younger men.
- They add that younger women are also more likely to return to the hospital in the year following a heart attack.
- Experts say among other factors younger women tend to wait longer to seek treatment after experiencing heart ailments.
Younger women who have had a heart attack have more adverse outcomes and are more likely to return to the hospital in the year following their heart attack than men of a similar age.
That’s according to a study published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
The researchers used data from the VIRGO study, which provides observational information on the treatment and outcomes of heart attacks in people 18 to 55.
In this study, the researchers looked at the health information of 2,985 people – 2,009 women and 976 men. The average age was 47.
They reported that for all-cause hospitalizations within one year of discharge, nearly 35% of women were hospitalized again, compared to 23% for men.
The researchers used any hospital or observation stay longer than 24 hours. The most common cause of re-hospitalization was heart attack and chest pain.
In addition, women who had heart attacks had more adverse outcomes than men.
The women in the study had a higher prevalence of co-morbidities, including obesity, congestive heart failure, previous stroke, and renal disease.
The younger women were more likely to be low-income, have a history of depression, and have significantly worse health status than the men in the study.
The women also tended to wait longer before seeking medical attention after experiencing chest pain, arriving at the emergency room an average of more than 6 hours from the start of their symptoms.
“There are many reasons women are more likely to delay seeking care for heart attack symptoms when compared to men,” said Dr. Anais Hausvater, the clinical instructor in the Department of Medicine in the Leon H….
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