Heart attack care and outcomes are notably bad for women under 45, says study

Some people assume that heart attacks only happen to older individuals, which is a major problem for recognizing heart attack symptoms when they occur in younger people, especially women under 45. Findings that have been published in the American Journal of Medicine indicate that they are the least likely segment of the population to receive adequate care for the condition. Those in danger of experiencing a heart attack might want to ask their doctors whether they should buy Plavix to prevent such an episode.

Scientists compiled information from the records of more than 30,000 heart attack patients. Individuals under 45 years old accounted for 10.3 percent of all cases examined in the study. Women of this age group were the least likely to undergo all six quality of care measures used as a barometer for the purposes of the study. These measures included the administration of such practices as lipid lowering therapy and the application of stents.

"These findings are significant because they show specific areas for improvement in the treatment of patients at risk for heart attacks and the exact patient populations that may receive lower quality of care," said the study's lead author Sripal Bangalore of the Cardiac and Vascular Institute at the NYU Langone Medical Center.

He went on to explain that heart attack symptoms in younger women are often attributed to the wrong condition, which leads to improper care at hospitals. In addition, the study's results show that unlike heart attack patients older than 45, younger individuals experiencing a heart attack are less likely to be afflicted with risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that 47 percent of all heart attack deaths happen outside of a hospital setting, which indicates that not enough people recognize the warning signs. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), these signs include chest pain, pain in other areas of the body, shortness of breath, cold sweats, nausea and lightheadedness. Often, heart attacks are mistaken for the flu.