Women who have survived a heart attack were less likely to take their medications than men, according to a new study.
A team of researchers studied data gathered from at least 12,000 male and female heart attack survivor volunteers one year after their first attack between 2007 and 2009.
Both men and women have the same adherence rate to treatment, however there was a gap between the genders when it comes to starting their medications.
According to the gathered data, they found that only 65 percent of women survivors under 55 years old initiated treatment with prescribed drugs after their attack, compared to up to 75 percent of the men from the same age group.
"The gender gap in treatment initiation among younger women [is important because (they)] have much worse outcomes after suffering a heart attack than do men of the same age," explained Karin Humphries, associate professor from the University of British Columbia. She added that these findings mean that women, especially younger ones, should be actively encouraged to continue their treatment.
The researchers initially believed that the resulting gap could be due to lapse in physician's prescribing behavior, the patient's own medication taking habits or a combination of both.
Further into the study, the group was unable to clarify whether the difference in initiative for treatment between genders could have resulted from prescription practices or by individual personality and behavior differences.
The researchers do believe that their findings reflect the importance of treating women after a heart attack.
"It is important for both physicians and patients to move away from the traditional thinking that heart disease is a man's disease," said lead study author Kate Smolina from the Center for Health Services and Policy Research at the University of British Columbia.
Smolina said it was only recently that heart attack research focused on women has received much needed attention. This may lead to patients and even doctors to believe that post heart attack management medications are not suitable for women.
Experts recommend that heart attack survivors should be prescribed to take anti-hypertensive medications like beta blockers and ACE inhibitors as well as statins to reduce risk of a repeat attack.
The findings of the study are published in the American Heart Association's Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes journal.
Photo: Rodrigo Senna | Flickr
