Premature Acute Coronary Syndrome Care Speed Differs by Gender

Men receive treatment for premature acute coronary syndrome at faster rates than women, according to research published in the March issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ).

To discern whether gender played a role in care received to treat premature acute coronary syndrome, Louise Pilote, PhD, and researchers at the McGill University Health Centre evaluated data from 1123 patients aged 18-55 hospitalized for acute coronary syndrome (362 women, 761 men).

After being admitted in the hospital for 24 hours, patients completed a survey that asked about gender-related issues such as housework, income level, and health status before the hospitalization.

Researchers found women were more likely to come from lower-income brackets and have diabetes, high blood pressure, higher levels of anxiety and depression, and a family history of heart disease. Women received slower care. Door-to-electrocardiography (ECG) and door-to-needle times were 21 and 15 minutes and 36 and 28 minutes, respectively.

Pilote cited anxiety as the reason for women’s wait time to be over the 10 minute benchmark. Researchers also discovered men and women that possessed feminine features, such as being primarily responsible for the housework in the home, both experienced longer wait times for care.

“Patients with anxiety who present to the emergency department with noncardiac chest pain tend to be women, and the prevalence of acute coronary syndrome is lower among young women than among young men,” Pilote said in a statement. “These findings suggest that triage personnel might initially dismiss a cardiac event among young women with anxiety, which would result in a longer door-to-ECG interval.”