Heart Attacks More Deadly for Women

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Heart Attacks More Deadly for Women
(NBC News, ) Heart attacks in women are considerably more likely to be fatal than those in men particularly for younger females, new research shows. And while doctors have thought treatment differences might explain the gender gap, the latest results suggest biological factors are to blame.

"Women with heart attacks, particularly younger women with heart attacks, are at great risk of death and disability and must be treated very aggressively," said Dr. Laura Wexler, a physician affiliated with the University of Cincinnati who wrote an editorial accompanying two new reports in The New England Journal of Medicine. Even though women under 50 get fewer heart attacks than men of the same age, when younger women sustain heart attacks they are twice as likely to die as men, according to a study by Yale University researcher Dr. Viola Vaccarino. The research was based on a review of the records of 384,878 heart attack victims between 1994 and 1998. The study also found that the gender gap narrowed and eventually disappeared later in life.

Over the years, experts have speculated about why heart attacks are more deadly for women, and some have suggested that differences in medical treatment play a role. While this may be part of the story, the new work suggests that biology is probably a more important factor.

Probably biological mechanisms play a major role, but we need to look at the big picture and take into account all aspects of the women and their care, Vaccarino said.

In another study, Dr. Judith Hochman, an investigator affiliated with St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York City, found that women of all ages with heart attacks and other forms of heart disease face a greater risk of complications and death.

"I think it is incumbent upon us to figure out why and help reduce that increased risk," said Hochman, who looked at 12,142 men and women who sustained bad heart attacks, milder ones or severe chest pain. In all three categories, women were up to twice as likely to suffer serious complications. Among those who had heart attacks, the women were 50 percent more likely to die within 30 days.

Experts say the essential message from these latest studies is that women and their doctors need to think about heart disease in a fundamentally different way.

Until now, many women like 50-year-old Debbie Coller, who has heart disease, have been unaware of the risk until that first incident.

Coller told NBC News she had thought of heart disease as "a man's type of disease, just like having a baby was a woman's type of thing."

In actuality, heart disease is the No. 1 killer of American women, taking the lives of more than 234,000 a year.

And doctors say women like Coller need to be aware of the threat of heart disease and to take steps to prevent it. Such measures include quitting smoking and lowering their cholesterol and blood pressure.

"Young women need to identify and modify any risk factors they might have for heart disease," Hochman said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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