Survival after heart attack improves in younger womenOctober 26, 2009ATLANTA - In recent years, women, particularly younger women, experienced larger improvements in hospital mortality after myocardial infarction (MI) than men, according to a study published in the Oct. 26, 2009 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. Over the last decade several studies showed that younger women, but not older ones, are more likely to die in the hospital after MI than age-matched men. A team of Emory University researchers examined whether such mortality differences have declined in recent years. "We found that the number of younger women who die in the hospital after a heart attack, compared with men in the same age group, has narrowed over the last few years," says study leader Viola Vaccarino, MD, PhD, professor of medicine (cardiology), and director of the Emory Program in Cardiovascular Outcomes Research and Epidemiology. Vaccarino says changes in patient characteristics and treatments over time accounted in part for the changing mortality trends. Often referred to as a heart attack, MI occurs when the blood supply to part of the heart is interrupted. This decreased blood supply is commonly due to blockage of a coronary artery and if left untreated can cause damage and/or death (infarction) of heart muscle tissue. The researchers investigated MI mortality trends according to sex and age in five age groups during a 12-year period from 1994 to 2006. The study population included 916,380 MI patients from the National Registry of Myocardial Infarction (NRMI) who had a confirmed diagnosis of MI. The researchers found that hospital mortality declined markedly between 1994 and 2006 in all patients, but more so in women than in men in virtually every age group. The mortality reduction in 2006 relative to 1994 was largest in women under the age of 55 years (53 percent) and lowest in men under the age of 55 years (33 percent). In patients younger than 55, the absolute decline in mortality was three times larger in women than in men (2.7 percent vs 0.9 percent). The sex difference in mortality decline became progressively lower in older patients. As a result, the death rate in younger women compared with men was less pronounced in 2004-06 than in 1994-95. Emory University |
|||||||||||||||||||||
| Related Heart Attack Current Events and Heart Attack News Articles Inhibition of GRK2 is protective against acute cardiac stress injuries Inhibition of a protein known to contribute to heart failure also appears to be protective of the heart in more acute cardiac stress injury, namely ischemia reperfusion. Vitamin B niacin offers no extra benefit to statin therapy in seniors already diagnosed with CAD The routine prescription of extended-release niacin, a B vitamin (1,500 milligrams daily), in combination with traditional cholesterol-lowering therapy offers no extra benefit in correcting arterial narrowing and diminishing plaque buildup in seniors who already have coronary artery disease, a new vascular imaging study from Johns Hopkins experts shows. Heart and bone damage from low vitamin D tied to declines in sex hormones Researchers at Johns Hopkins are reporting what is believed to be the first conclusive evidence in men that the long-term ill effects of vitamin D deficiency are amplified by lower levels of the key sex hormone estrogen, but not testosterone. Elevated biomarkers lead to diminished quality of life in heart attack patients post-discharge Many heart attack patients have high levels of cardiac biomarkers in the blood for several months after leaving the hospital, with more shortness of breath and chest pain, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study. Tiny particles can deliver antioxidant enzyme to injured heart cells Researchers at Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed microscopic polymer beads that can deliver an antioxidant enzyme made naturally by the body into the heart. Early end to key study on benefits of niacin, a B vitamin, in keeping arteries open was premature Heart experts at Johns Hopkins are calling premature the early halt of a study by researchers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Washington Hospital Center on the benefits of combining extended-release niacin, a B vitamin, with cholesterol-lowering statin medications to prevent blood vessel narrowing. oo much selenium can increase your cholesterol A new study from the University of Warwick has discovered taking too much of the essential mineral selenium in your diet can increase your cholesterol by almost 10%. Higher carotid arterial stenting rates associated with poorer clinical outcomes Among eligible Medicare beneficiaries, increased use of carotid arterial stenting (CAS) procedures to treat carotid stenosis-the narrowing of the carotid artery-is associated with higher rates of mortality and adverse clinical outcomes, including heart attack and stroke, according to researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Study suggests dentists can identify patients at risk for fatal cardiovascular event A new study indicates dentists can play a potentially life-saving role in health care by identifying patients at risk of fatal heart attacks and referring them to physicians for further evaluation. Common Pain Relievers May Dilute Power of Flu Shots With flu vaccination season in full swing, research from the University of Rochester Medical Center cautions that use of many common pain killers - Advil, Tylenol, aspirin - at the time of injection may blunt the effect of the shot and have a negative effect on the immune system. More Heart Attack Current Events and Heart Attack News Articles |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||