Angina More Common in Women Than Men

That means many women may be under-treated for the heart condition, study suggests

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

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MONDAY, March 17 (HealthDay News) -- While men suffer more heart attacks than women, women have a 20 percent higher prevalence of stable angina, according to a new study that conflicts with conventional medical wisdom.

Angina is a common and serious heart problem. It's caused by inadequate oxygen to the heart, which can lead to chest pain or discomfort on exertion that typically goes away with rest. The condition can result from partially blocked heart arteries or decreased flexibility of the cardiac arteries.

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"When one looks at typical symptoms of angina, one finds that they are as common in women as men," said study lead researcher Dr. Harry Hemingway, a professor of clinical epidemiology at University College London Medical School in Great Britain. "In fact, they are slightly more common in women than men right across 31 countries, and we didn't know that before," he added.

Because heart attacks are more common in men than women, Hemingway said doctors "have assumed the same thing to be the case for other forms of coronary heart disease. The main other form of heart disease is angina."

For the new study, Hemingway and his colleagues collected data from 74 studies involving 401,315 people living in 31 countries, including the United States. The prevalence of angina varied from country to country. Among women, the prevalence varied from 0.73 percent to 14.4 percent, with an average of 6.7 percent. Among men, it varied from 0.76 percent to 15.1 percent, for an average of 5.7 percent, the study found.

While risk factors for heart disease, such as smoking, differed from country to country, once the researchers compensated for those risk factors, they found that the prevalence of angina was still higher among women. In fact, the prevalence of angina was 20 percent higher overall among women than men.

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