Heart attack twice as likely for angina men as women

Published on Thursday 6 August 2009 22:03

MEN with angina are twice as likely to suffer a heart attack as women with the same condition, according to researchers.

A five-year study of nearly 2,000 patients found men diagnosed with angina were also three times more likely than women to suffer a heart-disease-related death.

Dr Brian Buckley, of the National University of Ireland, in Galway, said the study was the first to link patients' GP, hospital and mortality records to asses the risks related to the condition.

"It's the kind of research that maybe can't produce the answers but it can produce a good picture of everyday life," said Dr Buckley, who led the study, published in the British Medical Journal.

"What we've been able to do for the first time is look at all the different records.

"The message is that angina is serious but it need not become more serious as long as you do the right things in terms of lifestyle, and doctors do the right thing in terms of medication."

The records of anonymous patients with an average age of 62 were analysed for the study. They were drawn from 40 primary care practices in Scotland. Each patient had been newly diagnosed with angina between January 1998 and December 2001.

It found that being male, older and a smoker increased the risk of having a heart attack, while the added factor of obesity increased the risk of death from heart disease.

The likelihood of having a procedure to open up blocked arteries – angioplasty or coronary artery bypass surgery – was also higher in men than in women.

But the study showed that neither procedure resulted in significantly improved survival rates.