More Women Than Men Die From Severe Heart Attack In Hospitals

More Women Than Men Die From Severe Heart Attack In Hospitals

Winter months are heart attack months.

Men and women have about the same adjusted in-hospital death rate for heart attack — but women are more likely to die if hospitalized for a more severe type of heart attack.

According to a report in Circulation, journal of the American Heart Association:

• Women are twice as likely as men to die if hospitalized for a type of heart attack known as ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).
• Women are also less likely to receive appropriate and timely treatment for heart attack.
• Women with STEMI have a 12 percent higher relative risk for in-hospital death compared to men.
• Compared to men, women are 14 percent less likely to receive early aspirin; 10 percent less likely to receive beta blockers; 25 percent less likely to receive reperfusion therapy (to restore blood flow); 22 percent less likely to receive reperfusion therapy within 30 minutes of hospital arrival; and 13 percent less likely to receive angioplasty within 90 minutes of hospital arrival.
• Women admitted with a STEMI are about twice as likely to die in the first 24 hours of hospitalization as men.