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(Ivanhoe Newswire) Men and women are not the same when it comes how their bodies react to treatments for a heart attack. A new study finds an invasive treatment is beneficial for all men and high-risk women. The research finds invasive treatment is not beneficial for low-risk women.
Individual studies focusing on heart attack treatments have not been large enough to look at outcomes in specific groups. This current study included data from eight clinical trials that in all included more than 10,000 patients. Researchers looked at the incidence of death, heart attack or rehospitilization for a heart attack after invasive and less invasive treatment options.
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An invasive treatment included cardiac catheterization, which is a procedure that allows physicians to find and open potential blockages to prevent future heart problems. Conservative treatments included medical management and then catheterization only for those patients with ongoing chest pain. Researchers report women who received an invasive strategy had a 19 percent lower risk for death and men had a 27 percent lower risk. When they looked at high risk women verses low risk women, study authors found low risk women did not have a significant benefit to having invasive therapy.
Researchers write, Our data provide evidence to support the updated American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines that now recommend that a conservative strategy be used in low-risk women.
SOURCE: JAMA, 2008;300:71-80
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