The authors of this study emphasize the importance of prevention—-controlling weight, preventing the form of diabetes which is behaviorally-driven, and other heart-healthy habits.

This is an interesting set of studies.  These seem to point to a much better recognition of cardiovascular disease in women under age 55, when it has been least expected. The significant drop in mortality rates in the under 55 age group is absolute proof of vigilance on the part of doctors and the women themselves.

It also is interesting because, for many years, women have been under-diagnosed when having a heart attack because their symptoms are different. The common expression is that women don’t have “TV drama heart attacks.” In fact, men often don’t either but for women, that kind is rare.

That said, the risk for heart attack has become higher for women over the last 20 years although more are surviving those attacks.

Medpage Today

“Heart attack rates have increased among middle-age women in the past two decades, but the risk of a woman dying from a heart attack has dropped, new studies have found.

“The rates of myocardial infarction among women 35 to 54 rose from 0.7% during the period of 1988-1994 to 1% during 1999-2004, according to one of two studies published in the Oct. 26 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.”

…”On the other hand, mortality from myocardial infarction among women under the age of 55 dropped from 5.1% to 2.4% from 1994 to 2006, a 52.9% total reduction, the second Archives report found. The decline in mortality was three times as large as that seen in men of the same age.

Source: Medpage Today, October 26, 2009

Citation: Archives of Internal Medicine. 2009;169(19):1762-1766.

Citation: Archives of Internal Medicine, 2009;169(19):1767-1774.