This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Borzak, S. Articles by Weaver, W. D. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Borzak, S. Articles by Weaver, W. D. Related Collections Health policy and outcome research Cardiovascular Pharmacology Catheter-based coronary interventions: stents Acute coronary syndromes Acute myocardial infarction Epidemiology Coagulation and fibronolysis

(Circulation. 2000;102:2458.)
© 2000 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorial

Sex and Outcome After Myocardial Infarction

A Case of Sexual Politics?

Steven Borzak, MD; W. Douglas Weaver, MD

From the Henry Ford Heart and Vascular Institute, Detroit, Mich.

Correspondence to W. Douglas Weaver, MD, Henry Ford Heart and Vascular Institute, K-14, 2799 W Grand Blvd, Detroit, MI 48202. E-mail wweaver1@hfhs.org

The concluding decades of the last millennium have brought about a dramatic transformation in the role of women in Western society. Along with a growth in equality in the social and political landscape, there has been an increased awareness of the manifestations of diseases and their diagnosis, management, and outcome in women.

The treatment of women with coronary disease has received particularly intense scrutiny. A multitude of studies have been published from administrative databases, patient registries, clinical trials, and population-based surveys. These have evaluated findings in women with diagnoses of chest pain, stable coronary disease, ST elevation myocardial infarction (MI), and non-ST elevation acute ischemic syndromes. Although the anatomic biological differences are incompletely understood,¹ the following 3 key questions have been posed: (1) does the outcome of women with coronary artery disease differ from that of men? (2) Do treatment and management strategies differ between the sexes? (3) Is the effect of treatment and outcome similar for both sexes? The findings in studies have been inconsistent, but nonetheless, several areas of agreement and consensus exist (Table).

View this table: [in this window] [in a new window]   Table 1. Areas of Agreement and Disagreement in the Literature Regarding Women and Acute MI

The report by Gottlieb et al² advances our understanding of the relationship between treatment and outcome in the setting of acute MI. This study was derived from a comprehensive national registry of all coronary care units in Israel, and it reports data on hospitalized patients with a diagnosis of acute MI over 2 months during 3 different years. A particular . . . [Full Text of this Article]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. Moriel, S. Behar, D. Tzivoni, H. Hod, V. Boyko, and S. Gottlieb Management and Outcomes of Elderly Women and Men With Acute Coronary Syndromes in 2000 and 2002 Arch Intern Med, July 11, 2005; 165(13): 1521 - 1526. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]