Cardiac chest pain common in men & women

Women have a similar high incidence of stable angina - chest pain due to inadequate blood flow to the heart as that of men. A researcher from the University College London Medical School found that angina in women appears to be more serious than many doctors realise. Angina in women is associated with an increased risk of dying from heart disease. Despite this, women are less likely to be tested for angina than men. Women who are told they have angina but are not tested with a treadmill test or an angiogram should ask why. The researchers used Finland's comprehensive national healthcare database, which included 56,441 women and 34,885 men diagnosed with angina. None of the patients had a history of coronary artery disease at study enrollment in 1998. They were followed 2004. The investigators found a similar annual incidence of angina in women and men -- 1.89 and 2.03 per 100 population of all cases in women and men, respectively. Unlike the marked male excess of heart attacks, this shows that angina affects women as often as men. The study also shows that, at every age, angina in women and men is associated with a similar increase in risk of death due to a cardiac cause relative to the general population without angina. The incidence of test-positive angina was much lower in women than in men, confirming prior reports that women are less likely to undergo formal testing for chest pain than men, which is concerning, because women with test-positive angina are more likely to die from a cardiac cause than are men. These findings demonstrate the public health importance of angina in women and the need to ensure fair access to testing and treatment among women.