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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Although the treatment of heart failure has improved over the past 20 years, new research suggests treatments may differ depending on both the patient and the doctors' gender.
A study that analyzed data from 1,857 heart failure patients in Germany found female patients were less frequently treated with guideline-recommended medications (such as angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) and beta-blockers). Data also revealed that doses were lower in female patients than in male patients.
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The patients' gender wasn't the only influence on treatment noted; the gender of the physician also appeared to play a role. Researchers found drug treatment was more complete when female physicians were administering it. The use of ACE inhibitors or ARBs was significantly lower in female patients treated by a male physician than in male patients treated by either a female or male physician. The dose of ACE inhibitors and ARBs was highest in male patients being treated by female physicians and lowest in female patients being treated by male physicians.
This is one of several recent studies to find gender differences in medical care and survival in cardiovascular disease.
SOURCE: European Journal of Heart Failure, 2009
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