Younger women more likely to die of heart attacks: study

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AFP
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Younger women more likely to die of heart attacks: study
ISLAMABAD: Women have longer hospital stays and are more likely than men to die in the hospital after a heart attack researchers has found. In the study researcher Aakriti Gupta and her team at the Yale School of Medicine analysed 230 684 hospitalisations for heart attack in patients age 30 to 54 in a database from 2001 to 2010 Khaleej Times reported.

The study found that heart attack hospitalisation rates for patients under age 55 have not declined as quickly as they have for Medicare age patients which have seen a 20 per cent drop. Younger women are a vulnerable yet understudied group with worse cardiac risk profiles and worse outcomes after a heart attack as compared with younger men Gupta contended.

Men were more likely to have high cholesterol while women especially black women were more likely to also have hypertension diabetes and heart failure.

This shows that we need to raise awareness of the importance of controlling cardiovascular risk factors like diabetes high blood pressure and smoking in younger patients Gupta said.

Younger women may benefit from more aggressive control of modifiable cardiovascular risk factors including early identification and treatment of high blood pressure high cholesterol obesity smoking and diabetes researchers concluded.