WOMEN who experience the chest pains typical of angina are at higher risk of more serious heart conditions than was thought.
Angina is commonly believed to be more common in men than in women, but a study of more than 100,000 people with angina in Finland aged between 45 and 89 showed it to be equally common in both. What鈥檚 more, women with the symptoms of angina are more likely than men to be told they are caused by stress, and so are not tested for any underlying heart disease. These women were more likely to die than people who were tested (The Journal of the American Medical Association, vol 295, p 1404).
鈥淲e need to understand why women are relatively protected from heart attack but not from angina, and ensure fair access to investigation and treatment services,鈥� says Harry Hemingway of University College London Medical School, who led the research.
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