Women with acute chest pain get different levels of care than men

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-03-07 06:00

Australia; VIC

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There is a significant variation in the care women with acute chest pain receive compared to men, and strategies to reduce these differences should be strongly considered by doctors and policymakers, according to Australian research. The study looked at everyone who needed emergency medical services for acute chest pain in Victoria, over 4.5 years and it found that women were less likely to receive care that followed guidelines in both prehospital and hospital settings. Similarly, women with acute coronary syndrome were less likely to undergo angiography or be admitted to a cardiac or intensive care unit. It also found that mortality was higher for women diagnosed with a dangerous type of heart attack, known as an ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), but lower overall.