(1888PressRelease)
July 01, 2009 - In a new study published in the March issue of Postgraduate Medicine, doctors from the Department of Cardiology at the University of North Texas Medical Center investigated the different ways that cardiovascular disease, specifically coronary artery disease (CAD), presents itself in men and women.
The article, entitled “Gender Differences in Coronary Artery Disease: Review of Diagnostic Challenges and Current Treatment,” discusses the atypical symptoms that women with CAD exhibit, a fact that often leads doctors to underdiagnose the disease. However, by illuminating these sex-based distinctions, these doctors hope to help others realize the importance of critical investigation in women demonstrating these differing symptoms.
The article begins by discussing how the progress that has occurred in diagnosing and treating cardiovascular disease has benefitted men specifically; in the United States, the rate of deaths from CVD in women has actually increased. This is due to a combination of factors, including a lack of awareness in women, who are thought to be at less risk for heart disease, as well as the inability of doctors to recognize the illness.
Although younger women are at less risk of heart disease because their high levels of estrogen, postmenopausal women are just as likely as men of the same age to develop CAD. These women are more likely to show such symptoms as fatigue, nausea and/or vomiting, and arm and shoulder pain, symptoms not traditionally associated with CAD.
The study also reveals that women who are diagnosed with CAD often receive a less thorough consult and treatment than men. They typically receive fewer medications for treatment on admission to the hospital and after being discharged. They are also less likely to undergo coronary catheterization, a procedure that is used to recognize cardiovascular disorders.
The study also found that although estrogen is helpful in protecting young women from CAD, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in older women is not nearly as conclusively beneficial. While some studies show that HRT is helpful, many others show no significant advantage in women undergoing the procedure.
By revealing these inherent, sex-based differences in the presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of CAD in women, these doctors hope to help change other physicians’ ways of helping women who may have this or other cardiovascular diseases. If the distinctions are so clearly demonstrable, clinicians need to take a different approach in treating women and men.
The full article can be accessed on Postgraduate Medicine’s website at www.postgradmed.com.
###
