Failure to recognize symptoms and treat heart attacks among women

I really thought we were past this but apparently there is still a gender gap amongst women and men when it comes to symptoms and treatments of heart attacks. Even though the patient was definitely and positively having a heart attack it seems that the very same women showed very little symptoms and eluded doctors…

One of the most striking findings was that women were twice as likely as men to have “normal” or “mild” results on an exam of their heart’s blood vessels, with no single blockage taking up more than 50 percent of any one blood vessel. This was despite the fact that their other test results showed they were definitely having a heart attack, or a form of chest pain called unstable angina.

After six months of their heart attack or angina, women were more likely to have died then men with the same advanced coronary disease.  Women were also less likely  than men to receive drugs called beta blockers, statins and ACE inhibitors, which are considered crucial to preventing further heart episodes. And no matter how serious their blockages, women were less likely to receive an angioplasty or a stent to open up their blood vessels.

via Science Daily