Coping with… A HEART ATTACK

Women get different treatment to men, says Dr Melanie Wynne-Jones. And it affects survival rates...

- Dr Melanie Wynne-Jones

Three times as many women as men die in the first year after a heart attack, according to UK/Swedish researchers. They say we’re less likely to seek and get crucial early diagnostic tests and treatment, due to the idea that coronary heart disease (CHD) typically strikes overweight, stressed middle-aged men. But when women get equivalent treatment, their survival rate increases dramatically.

Almost 200 people die from heart attacks each day in the UK, although around 70% of people survive a heart attack. But UK women are twice as likely to die from CHD as breast cancer, and 2.3 million people are living with the disease. Although the research focused on 2003 to 2013, gender inequality persists.

What is CHD?

In CHD, the arteries supplying heart muscles become narrowed by deposits/plaques containing cholesterol and platelets (blood-clotting cells). These restrict blood/oxygen flow and can become inflamed/ rupture, blocking the artery completely (a heart attack).