Ana García Álvarez
Head of the Cardiology Department at the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona and researcher at the National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) and at the August Pi Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS)
This is an observational study including clinical and administrative data (through the merging of several registries) of patients aged 18-55 years hospitalised between 2009 and 2019 for myocardial infarction in Ontario, Canada.
It highlights that within this age group, women who suffer a heart attack have more comorbidities (mainly diabetes) than men. The rate of diabetes also increased worryingly in women over the study period.
Although gender differences in patient management are decreasing, even in young patients such as those included in this study, there is still less indication for coronary angiography and lower rates of cardiac follow-up in women.
The incidence of the main event (death or readmission during the first year) was higher in women, mainly due to a higher rate of readmission.
As this was a population-based study, we do not have sufficient data to understand the reason(s) for the higher number of readmissions in women. Holistic care including cardiological follow-up, adequate control of comorbidities, optimised medication dosage and care of emotional aspects is essential to avoid these readmissions.