Women More Likely to Die After a Heart Attack

 Women More Likely to Die After a Heart Attack

Women More Likely to Die After a Heart Attack

New research indicates that women are more likely than men to die within the first five years after suffering a heart attack.

Women More Likely to Die After a Heart Attack

Younger women (under 65) are more likely to die than men within the first five years after a heart attack, according to new research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

A team of Canadian researchers followed 23,000 women and men who had suffered a heart attack, and approximately 8,000 women and men who had experienced unstable angina (a condition that indicates an impending heart attack).

In the five years following their heart attacks, about 39% of the women died, compared to only 27% of the men. In the group that experienced angina, no significant difference was found between men and women in mortality rates: 22% for women versus 20% for men.

However, after accounting for other influential factors (such as age, other illnesses, and medications), the likelihood of death for women in the five years following an angina attack was found to be about 19% lower than for men.

Overall, the chances of death for women and men were similar. But this changed when researchers examined the age of the participants. In the group of participants under 65, the likelihood of death for women was about 25% higher than for men in the same group.

The researchers concluded that women have a better chance than men of surviving the years following an angina attack, but this advantage does not extend to heart attacks. Younger women are more likely to die than young men.

Ultimately, more research is needed to understand the reasons for these differences between men and women.