Female heart attack victims half as likely as men to receive treatment

Women are half as likely as men to receive treatment for a heart attack – even after it has been diagnosed, research shows.

Experts warned that "unconscious bias" means doctors are far less likely to think that female patients are suitable for interventions which can save lives. It follows evidence that 8,000 women have died needlessly from heart attacks in the last decade because they have not received the same standards of care as men.

Some of the death toll was blamed on a failure to diagnose cases in women, with medics too often assuming symptoms signified a less serious ailment. But the new study by Edinburgh University found that even when women received a diagnosis, they were half as likely as men to be put on any of the main treatments available. 

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Source: The Telegraph, 14 October 2019