Women have a 50% higher chance than men of receiving the wrong initial diagnosis following a heart attack, according to a new study. The findings have been published in the European Heart Journal Acute Cardiovascular Care. The study looked at 600,000 heart attack patients over the course of nine years.
The research, carried out at the University of Leeds—using the UK national heart attack register MINAP— found that overall, almost one third of patients had an initial diagnosis which differed from their final diagno
sis.
This research found that women who were finally diagnosed with the more serious type of heart attack, STEMI, had a 59% greater chance of a misdiagnosis compared with men. Women who had a final diagnosis of NSTEMI had a 41% greater chance of a misdiagnosis when compared with men.
Women who were misdiagnosed had about a 70% increased risk of death after 30 days compared with those who had received a consistent diagnosis. The same was the case for men.
In a press release, the British Heart Foundation urges both the public and health care professionals to be more aware of the signs and symptoms of a heart attack, to avoid mistakes being made in diagnosis.
The organisation also says that more research is needed to further improve tests for diagnosing heart attacks in both men and women.
Chris Gale, associate professor of Cardiovascular Health Sciences and honorary consultant cardiologist at the University of Leeds (Leeds, UK) who worked on the study, says, “We need to work harder to shift the perception that heart attacks only affect a certain type of person. Typically, when we think of a person with a heart attack, we envisage a middle aged man who is overweight, has diabetes and smokes. This is not always the case; heart attacks affect the wider spectrum of the population—including women.”
Mike Knapton, associate medical director of the British Heart Foundation, says, “The difference between men and women is alarmingly high, but recent British Heart Foundation research in Edinburgh (Scotland) has shown one reason why this might be.
“The research shows that when different limits are applied to the troponin test, a routine test for a heart attack, more women receive a correct diagnosis of heart attack. Thanks to this research there is now a better test for female heart attack diagnoses.
“However more research is urgently needed into tests that will enable earlier and more accurate diagnosis of a heart attack, particularly in women.”
