Younger women likelier to die from heart attacks than male counterparts

Young women, ages 55 years or below, are likelier to be hospitalized for an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and to die within the first 30 days than men in the same age group, a new study has claimed.

In fact, although overall AMI hospitalization rates declined for both women and men from 2000-2009 in this Canadian study, the only increase was for younger women (less than 55 years), in whom the AMI rate rose 1.7 per cent per year.

Furthermore, Mona Izadnegahdar and co-authors, University of British Columbia and Providence Health Care Research Institute (Vancouver, BC), reported that the higher 30-day mortality rate for young women compared to young men persisted throughout the study period.

Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Women’s Health, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women’s Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women’s Health, said that these findings highlight the need for more aggressive strategies to reduce the incidence of AMI and improve outcomes after AMI in younger women.

The study has been published online in the Journal of Women’s Health. (ANI)