NEWS
RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Bobbie Boyd, Director of Public Relations
& Community Outreach
Advanced Cardiac Specialists
Cell Phone: (602) 570-7069 E-mail:
bobbie.boyd@acs-im.com
CORONARY HEART DISEASE AND HEART ATTACKS - MORE
LETHAL FOR WOMEN OR TRADITIONALLY MORE IGNORED?
New Research Study
Suggests Aggressive Treatment Strategies Benefit Women More Than Men
Gilbert, Arizona (August
30, 2000) - A new research study indicates the historically poor outcomes reported
in women with acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) may not reflect so
much the inadequacy of existing resources as much as their
under-utilization. The study reinforces
that female gender should not be a contraindication to an aggressive invasive
strategy (direct angioplasty to open up the blocked coronary artery to abort an
ongoing heart attack).
Historical gender differences in outcomes in coronary artery
disease, may reflect gender differences in the treatment and follow-up
strategies rather than ineffectiveness of procedures in women. Contrary to conventional wisdom, women
appear to achieve greater gains than their male counterparts. They have equivalent procedural success
rates of 97.8% versus 97.6% for men, low occurrence of in-hospital
complications and positive long-term outcomes with comparable 12-month
event-free survival rates. In addition,
women have significantly improved overall left ventricular pump performance at
the end of the first year. This
suggests that aggressive strategies may be particularly warranted in women, for
prompt and effective salvage of jeopardized heart muscle and improved survival.
In addition, a
multi-pronged approach is critical to the overall treatment plan. This includes medications, risk management
education, close clinical and non-invasive follow-up (echo, stress echo, EKG),
as well as cardiac rehabilitation, currently an underutilized resource, which
may be a key step in risk reduction and improvement of function after an
interventional procedure.
The study also revealed that women took an average of 120
minutes to arrive at the hospital for treatment versus only 97 minutes for
men. However, the mean time from
arrival at the hospital catheterization laboratory to opening of a vessel was
comparable for men and women. This
makes a strong case for women’s education about early warning signals and
symptoms and the urgency for timely treatment.
Coronary
Artery Disease (CAD) is the leading cause of mortality among adult women in the
United States. An estimated one in
three women will eventually die of CAD.
Diagnosis of CAD is more difficult in women. Additionally, once women develop CAD, outcomes appear to be less
favorable than those of their male counterparts. One in eight women 45 – 54 have clinical evidence of CAD. One in three over 65 have significant CAD.
Advanced Cardiac Specialists’ Research Department conducted the study and was invited to be a featured presentation at the XXII Congress of the European Society of Cardiology in Amsterdam, The Netherlands August 26 – 30, 2000.