--A U.S. researcher said clinical trials involving treatments for heart disease
must ensure that women participate.
Dr. Andrea Russo, a University of Pennsylvania physician and lead
investigator in the Multicenter UnSustained Tachycardia Trial, said the study,
published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Electrophysiology, showed women with
abnormal heart rhythms benefit from implantable cardioverter defibrillators as
much as men.
Russo said previous studies have raised the concern of possible gender bias
in favor of men in the evaluation and treatment of heart disease.
The MUSTT study looked at the influence of gender in 2,202 patients with
coronary artery disease and an abnormal heart pumping function. The most
significant differences were that the women in the trial were older, more likely
to have had a heart attack within six months of enrollment, more likely to have
experienced angina within six weeks prior to enrollment, and less likely to have
atrial fibrillation than the men.
"As cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in both men and
women, this also emphasizes the importance of ensuring that women have access to
the ICD, in addition to any other life-saving cardiovascular therapies," Russo
wrote in the study.
