Women lose more years of life after a heart attack than men

A new study shows that women lose more years of life after a heart attack than men. A 50-year-old woman who has a major heart attack loses an average of 11 years of life, while an 80-year-old man who has a minor heart attack loses an average of five months of life. The study was conducted by researchers from Karolinska Institutet and Danderyd Hospital, and the results are published in the journal Circulation.

Heart attacks are one of the most common causes of death worldwide and have a significant impact on life expectancy. Understanding the impact of the disease on life expectancy is important for identifying high-risk groups and improving future care planning.

The new study looked at 335,000 people with a first-time registered myocardial infarction in the SWEDEHEART quality registry from 1991 to 2022. People with a myocardial infarction were compared with 1.6 million people without a myocardial infarction, using data from Statistics Sweden and the National Board of Health and Welfare.

Using these comparisons and new statistical methods, it was possible to calculate the difference in life expectancy between people who had a heart attack and comparison people, allowing one to measure how much life expectancy was shortened by the disease.

"We found that there were large differences between the groups. Women and young people lost the most life expectancy after a heart attack. If cardiac function was impaired after a heart attack, the effects were even greater. For example, a 50-year-old woman with impaired cardiac function loses an average of 11 years of life in 2022 compared to an 80-year-old man with normal cardiac function who loses an average of 5 months of life," says first author of the study Christian Reitan, a researcher at the Department of Clinical Sciences, Danderyd Hospital, Karolinska Institutet.

Parameters that influence the risk of heart attack

The researchers also accounted for differences in income, education, other medical conditions and medications at the time of the attack, which helped measure the effect of the heart attack itself, accounting for all other factors.

"The results showed that a significant portion of the reduction in life expectancy had disappeared, meaning that a significant portion of the reduction in life expectancy was explained by factors other than the heart attack itself, but still related to it, such as socioeconomic status or other medical conditions such as hypertension and diabetes. As long as the patient had preserved cardiac function, we saw that the gender difference had disappeared.

"We interpret this as evidence that the effect of heart attack, and therefore heart attack care, is similar between the sexes, and that the significant reduction in life expectancy in women is due to differences in risk factors, other diseases, and socioeconomic status," Reitan says.

Sweden lacks tailored heart attack care for women, researchers say. Research shows women who have a heart attack lose more years of life than men of the same age.

"If a woman had poor heart function, the gender difference was significant. We don't have data to say why, but it raises questions about whether women get as good follow-up care and treatment for heart failure as men, or whether it's just a more serious condition for women.

"Our findings are important because they challenge current guidelines for treating heart attacks. By identifying high-risk groups, we can hope to better tailor treatment to each patient. We believe that 'years of life lost' is a good and easily understood measure of risk for both physicians and patients. This makes it easier for us to assess and communicate the severity of the disease," concludes Reitan.