This study highlights that female patients with acute myocardial infarction frequently present with dyslipidemia as the primary risk factor and atypical chest pain in a quarter of cases.
Introduction: Coronary heart Disease (CHD) though primarily considered to be man's disease, it is also a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in middle aged women throughout world. Coronary manifestations occurs approximately 20 years later in women as compared to men and may have atypical presentations. The poor prognosis in women due CHD has been attributed to advanced age , concomitant medical illnesses, late presentation because of atypical presentations, ignorance of seriousness of the disease and delayed treatment. Materials and Methods: 80 consecutive female patients admitted in the department of Medicine and cardiology of Indira Gandhi Medical college Shimla from 1 st June 2008 to 31 st May 2009 were included in the study informed consent , demographic profile and risk factors were recorded. After focused clinical examination biochemical investigations such as RBS, Hb A1C, Lipid profile, 12 lead electrocardiogram and echocardiography etc. was done. Results: total 80 patients included in the study had mean age of 62.7 ± 13.6 years. The majority of females between the of age 61-70 years constituted 50% 0f study population. Dyslipidemia was the commonest risk factor followed by obesity, smoking ,hypertension and diabetes. Chest pain was the common presenting feature with atypical pain chest in 25% of females. Conclusion: CHD is a under diagnosed undertreated and under researched disease in women for various reasons and it is more age dependent in women than in men. The primary care physicians, paramedics posted in peripheral institutes' should be appraised about the clinical profile ,risk factors of CHD in females so that effective therapy can be instituted in time to decrease subsequent morbidity and mortality.
Kumar et al. (Tue,) studied this question.