April 28, 2008 - There was no difference in mortality between men and women for patients who suffered a myocardial infarction, according to a study in Germany that included 132,000 men and women.
In this study, the authors analyzed the medical data from AOK (a large general statutory health insurance company) patients who had received hospital treatment for a myocardial infarction between 2004 and 2005. Within this period, 57,000 women and 75,000 men insured by AOK suffered from a myocardial infarction somewhere in Germany. After allowing for the age of the patients, there was no difference in mortality between men and women. This contradicts and disproves the hypothesis that a myocardial infarction is not so reliably recognized in women as in men, so that women sometimes receive inadequate care.
Mortality was only slightly increased in the small group of women under 50 years of age, in comparison with men of the same age.
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