Younger women who suffer a heart attack are more likely than men to die

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “However, women who experience a heart attack at a young age often present with similar symptoms as men, are more likely to have diabetes, have lower socioeconomic status and ultimately are more likely to die in the longer term.” The team behind the research, published in the European Heart Journal on Wednesday, looked at 404 women and 1,693 men who had a first heart attack between 2000 and 2016 and were treated at two Boston hospitals — Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. They found that, compared to men, women were less likely to receive therapeutic invasive procedures after admission to hospital with a heart attack or to be treated with certain medical therapies upon discharge, such as aspirin, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors and statins. “We plan further research to assess underlying sex-specific risk factors that may account for the higher risk to women in this group, and which may help us understand why they had a heart attack at a young age.” Despite being a similar age, women were less likely than men to have STEMI, but more likely to have non-obstructive coronary disease. “We can each work towards this goal by increasing awareness of heart disease and ‘heart healthy’ lifestyles within our communities; engaging with local policymakers, promoting primary or secondary prevention efforts within our clinical practices; designing studies that account for sex differences; facilitating recruitment of women into clinical trials; requesting sex-based data when reviewing manuscripts; and reporting sex differences in published research.”