Young women arriving to the emergency department with chest pain waited longer to be seen by a clinician, were less likely be triaged as emergent, and less likely to receive cardiac testing compared to young men with the same symptoms, according to new findings presented today at the American College of Cardiology's Annual Scientific Sessions.
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Among younger adults visiting the emergency department for chest pain, women may be getting the short end of the stick. Compared with men of similar age, women were triaged less urgently, waited longer to be seen, and were less likely to undergo basic tests or be hospitalized or admitted for observation to diagnose a heart attack, according to new research being presented at the American College of Cardiology s 70th Annual Scientific Session.
The study is the first to examine emergency room management of chest pain specifically among younger adults (age 18-55 years). Heart disease is the leading cause of death in women and is becoming more common in younger adults. About one-third of women who were hospitalized for a heart attack in the past two decades were under the age of 55, a proportion that has grown in recent years.
The team examined emergency room management of chest pain in young adults
The study is based on data on 18 to 55 year olds collected between 2014-2018
Researchers extrapolated the data to represent 29 million ER chest pain visits
Compared with men of similar age, they found women were triaged less urgently
The team predict this may be due to misconception that men are at greater risk Women should trust their instincts, said Darcy Banco, lead author of the study
May 06, 2021
For young adults, sex differences in care start as early as when they present to the emergency department (ED) seeking help for chest pain, where men are evaluated more quickly than women and are more likely to be under close scrutiny for myocardial infarction, according to an analysis of data collected by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The findings are set to be presented May 15 in the upcoming American College of Cardiology (ACC) Scientific Session.
Against an overall backdrop of rising MI rates in young adults, women are seeing the sharpest increase, investigator Darcy Banco, MD (NYU Langone Health, New York, NY), said in a press briefing ahead of ACC 2021. It’s also well known that young female patients receive suboptimal MI care compared with their male counterparts, and also that women in general are less likely than men to have their chest pain recognized as possibly being caused by cardiovascular disease.