Angina risk more pronounced in women over 45 years

A recent research revealed that the risk of angina (a type of heart disease) is more in females especially after the age of 45. In the study, almost 100,000 patients aged 45 to 89 years were studied with no previous history of coronary disease.

The common symptoms of angina are chest pain, heaviness, pressure or discomfort and are triggered by deficiency in oxygen that is carried to the heart by the blood, mainly due to thickening (which in turn leads to narrowing) of coronary arteries. Some external factors such as severe physical exertion, cold or emotional stress can also instigate an angina attack. The incidences of angina are pronounced with older people, smokers and those who have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity or a family history of the disease.

The study results revealed that women with test-positive angina who were younger than 75 years had higher coronary-standardized mortality ratios as compared to men e.g. in the age group 55-64 it was 4.69 in women as compared to 2.40 in men. Besides this, patients with diabetes and test-positive angina, age-standardized coronary event rates were 9.9 per 100 person-years in women versus 9.3 in men.

The researchers finally concluded that angina in women is connected with higher mortality rates.