A Small Step for Women's Hearts

Published: February 22, 2005

The so-called treatment gap for women with heart disease - the tendency for doctors to treat them less aggressively than men - may be narrowing, but many women, it seems, are still neglecting a simple step for their own health.

Two studies examining these disparities were presented last week at an American Heart Association conference in Orlando, Fla., on women, heart disease and stroke.

In one study, Dr. Shu-Fen Wung of the University of Arizona analyzed data involving 112 men and women who had been hospitalized for heart attacks or chest pain.

Previous research had found that women with heart disease were not only less likely than men to be treated aggressively in the hospital, but were less likely to be given preventive medications after returning home.

But Dr. Wung said she found no difference in instructions to take aspirin, which helps prevent heart attacks and stroke by reducing blood clotting, and only a small gap in prescriptions for hypertension and high cholesterol.

"Women are receiving more of the recommended medications, and there are less gender disparities," she said.

The second study, however, found that many women were not routinely taking the aspirin they needed, even after their doctors ordered it.

Dr. Jeffrey S. Berger of Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan led the study, which drew on data from more than 100,000 women, including 8,928 who had suffered a stroke or heart attack.

He said that in about 95 percent of such cases, doctors recommended low-dose daily aspirin, which can cut the risk of recurrence by about 25 percent.

But only 54 percent of women who had suffered heart attacks were taking daily aspirin, and only 43 percent of those who had suffered strokes.

"To find such low numbers was quite discouraging," Dr. Berger said.