"The results of our study showed that women, especially high-risk women, aren't receiving the recommended treatment for patients with acute coronary syndromes," said Sonia S. Anand, MD, PhD, FRCPc, associate professor of medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and lead author of the paper. "All women should be considered for these types of procedures, as are men, when they come to the hospital with these conditions."
Dr. Anand, who holds the May Cohen Eli Lilly Chair in Women's Health Research at McMaster, spoke today at the American Medical Association's 24th annual Science Reporters Conference in Washington, D.C. She and her coauthors analyzed data from the Clopidogrel in Unstable Angina Evaluation (CURE) trial, a study of 4,836 women and 7,726 men with ACS, a group of conditions that includes angina, or chest pain, and certain types of heart attacks.
The patients, from 28 countries, were recruited between December 1998 and September 2000. Dr. Anand and her research team assessed their status when they were discharged, one month later, and then one to three more times at three-month intervals.
The problem started, Dr. Anand said, when women with ACS weren't sent for diagnostic tests, such as coronary angiography, during which physicians use a catheter to inject dye into the arteries to identify blockages. Overall, 15 percent fewer women underwent angiography, and 20 percent fewer high-ris
'"/>
Contact: Susan Emigh
emighs@mcmaster.ca
905-525-9140 x22555
American Medical Association
10-Nov-2005