Cardiovascular Medications Not Prescribed Equally Among Men and Women Study Says

Some cardiovascular medications are prescribed to women less often than men according to a study published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Previous research found that female hearty attack survivors were less likely to be given prescriptions for recommended medications then their male counterparts in the hospital.  This metanalysis examines whether preventative medications such as statins, aspirin, ACE inhibitors and diuretics are prescribed equally across the genders prior to heart attack.

The results showed that women received:
• 19% fewer aspirin prescriptions than men;
• 10% fewer statin prescriptions than men; and
• 15% fewer ACE-inhibitor prescriptions than men. 
• 27% more prescriptions for diuretics.

"Additional efforts need to be taken to ensure that everyone, women and men, who should receive cardiovascular medications are actually prescribed these medications," said lead study author Sanne Peters, Ph.D., research fellow in epidemiology at the George Institute for Global Health at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom and associate professor at the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands. "We also need to reduce the persistent treatment gaps between women and men."