As compared to men, women face a 20 per cent increased risk of developing heart failure or dying within five years after their first severe heart attack, according to new research.
The research was published in the American Heart Association’s flagship journal Circulation.Previous research looking at sex differences in heart health has often focused on a recurrent heart attack or death. However, the differences in vulnerability to heart failure between men and women after heart attack remain unclear.
To study this gap, researchers analyzed data on more than 45,000 patients (30.8 per cent women) hospitalized for a first heart attack between 2002-2016 in Alberta, Canada. They focused on two types of a heart attack: a severe, life-threatening heart attack called ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), and a less severe type called Non-STEMI or NSTEMI, the latter of which is more common. Patients were followed for an average of 6.2 years.
Women were older and…