Heart & Lung: The Journal of Acute and Critical Care
Volume 34, Issue 4 , Pages 240-247 , July 2005

Gender differences in symptoms associated with acute myocardial infarction: A review of the research

  • Wan Chen, PhD, RN

      Affiliations

    • University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California
    • Corresponding Author InformationReprint requests: Wan Chen, PhD, RN, University of California at San Francisco, School of Nursing, Box 0606, San Francisco, CA 94143.
  • ,
  • Susan L. Woods, PhD, RN (FAAN)

      Affiliations

    • University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
  • ,
  • Kathleen A. Puntillo, DNSc, RN (FAAN)

      Affiliations

    • University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California

References 

  1. Gibler WB , Armstrong PW , Ohman EM , Weaver WD , Stebbins AL , Gore JM , et al.   Persistence of delays in presentation and treatment for patients with acute myocardial infarction (the GUSTO-I and GUSTO-III experience) . Ann Emerg Med . 2002;39:123–130
  2. Goldberg RJ , Gurwitz JH , Gore JM . Duration of, and temporal trends (1994–1997) in, prehospital delay in patients with acute myocardial infarction (the second National Registry of Myocardial Infarction) . Arch Intern Med . 1999;159:2141–2147
  3. Heer T , Schiele R , Schneider S , Gitt AK , Wienbergen H , Gottwik M , et al.   Gender differences in acute myocardial infarction in the era of reperfusion (the MITRA registry) . Am J Cardiol . 2002;89:511–517
  4. Leizorovicz A , Haugh MC , Mercier C , Boissel JP . Pre-hospital and hospital time delays in thrombolytic treatment in patients with suspected acute myocardial infarction. Analysis of data from the EMIP study. European Myocardial Infarction Project . Eur Heart J . 1997;18:248–253
  5. Maynard C , Beshansky JR , Griffith JL , Selker HP . Influence of sex on the use of cardiac procedures in patients presenting to the emergency department. A prospective multicenter study . Circulation . 1996;94:II93–II98
  6. Meischke H , Eisenberg MS , Larsen MP . Prehospital delay interval for patients who use emergency medical services (the effect of heart-related medical conditions and demographic variables) . Ann Emerg Med . 1993;22:1597–1601
  7. Sheifer SE , Rathore SS , Gersh BJ , Weinfurt KP , Oetgen WJ , Breall JA , et al.   Time to presentation with acute myocardial infarction in the elderly associations with race, sex, and socioeconomic characteristics . Circulation . 2000;102:1651–1656
  8. Turi ZG , Stone PH , Muller JE , Parker C , Rude RE , Raabe DE , et al.   Implications for acute intervention related to time of hospital arrival in acute myocardial infarction . Am J Cardiol . 1986;58:203–209
  9. Moser DK , Dracup K . Gender differences in treatment-seeking delay in acute myocardial infarction . Prog Cardiovasc Nurs . 1993;8:6–12
  10. DeVon HA , Zerwic JJ . Symptoms of acute coronary syndromes (are there gender differences? A review of the literature) . Heart Lung . 2002;31:235–245
  11. Miller CL . A review of symptoms of coronary artery disease in women . J Adv Nurs . 2002;39:17–23
  12. Cunningham MA , Lee TH , Cook EF , Brand DA , Rouan GW , Weisberg MC , et al.   The effect of gender on the probability of myocardial infarction among emergency department patients with acute chest pain (a report from the Multicenter Chest Pain Study Group) . J Gen Intern Med . 1989;4:392–398
  13. Maynard C , Weaver WD . Treatment of women with acute MI (new findings from the MITI registry) . J Myocardial Ischemia . 1992;4:27–37
  14. Meischke H , Larsen MP , Eisenberg MS . Gender differences in reported symptoms for acute myocardial infarction (impact on prehospital delay time interval) . Am J Emerg Med . 1998;16:363–366
  15. Kudenchuk PJ , Maynard C , Martin JS , Wirkus M , Weaver WD . Comparison of presentation, treatment, and outcome of acute myocardial infarction in men versus women (the Myocardial Infarction Triage and Intervention Registry) . Am J Cardiol . 1996;78:9–14
  16. Čulič V , Eterovič D , Mirič D , Silič N . Symptom presentation of acute myocardial infarction (influence of sex, age, and risk factors) . Am Heart J . 2002;144:1012–1017
  17. Fiebach NH , Viscoli CM , Horwitz RI . Differences between women and men in survival after myocardial infarction. Biology or methodology? . JAMA . 1990;263:1092–1096
  18. Goldberg RJ , O’Donnell C , Yarzebski J , Bigelow C , Savageau J , Gore JM . Sex differences in symptom presentation associated with acute myocardial infarction (a population-based perspective) . Am Heart J . 1998;136:189–195
  19. Hendricks AS , Goodman B , Stein JH , Carnes M . Gender differences in acute myocardial infarction (the University of Wisconsin experience) . WMJ . 1999;98:30–36
  20. Hochman JS , Tamis JE , Thompson TD , Weaver WD , White HD , Van de Werf F , et al.   Sex, clinical presentation, and outcome in patients with acute coronary syndromes . New Engl J Med . 1999;341:226–232
  21. Melgarejo-Moreno A , Galcera-Tomas J , Garcia-Alberola A , Rodriguez-Garcia P , Gonzalez-Sanchez A . Clinical and prognostic characteristics associated with age and gender in acute myocardial infarction (a multihospital perspective in the Murcia region of Spain) . Eur J Epidemiol . 1999;15:621–629
  22. Paul SD , Eagle KA , Guidry U , DiSalvo TG , Villarreal-Levy G , Smith AJ , et al.   Do gender-based differences in presentation and management influence predictors of hospitalization costs and length of stay after an acute myocardial infarction? . Am J Cardiol . 1995;76:1122–1125
  23. Applegate WB , Graves S , Collins T , Vander Zwaag R , Akins D . Acute myocardial infarction in elderly patients . South Med J . 1984;77:1127–1129
  24. Bayer AJ , Chadha JS , Farag RR , Pathy MS . Changing presentation of myocardial infarction with increasing old age . J Am Geriatr Soc . 1986;34:263–266
  25. Liau CS , Hahn LC , Tjung JJ , Chen MF , Lee CM , Chen WJ , et al.   The clinical characteristics of acute myocardial infarction in aged patients . J Formos Med Assoc . 1991;90:122–126
  26. Yang XS , Willems JL , Pardaens J , De Geest H . Acute myocardial infarction in the very elderly. A comparison with younger age groups . Acta Cardiol . 1987;42:59–68
  27. Mahdhaoui A , Bouraour H , Majdoub MA , Ben Abdelaziz A , Trimeche B , Zaaraour J , et al.   Delays in the management of AMI (results of an investigation conducted in Sousse (Tunisia)) . Ann Cardiol Angeiol (Paris) . 2003;52:15–19
  28. Uretsky BF , Farquhar DS , Berezin AF , Hood WB . Symptomatic myocardial infarction without chest pain (prevalence and clinical course) . Am J Cardiol . 1977;40:498–503
  29. Zucker DR , Griffith JL , Beshansky JR , Selker HP . Presentations of acute myocardial infarction in men and women . J Gen Intern Med . 1997;12:79–87
  30. Goldberg R , Goff D , Cooper L , Luepker R , Zapka J , Bittner V , et al.   Age and sex differences in presentation of symptoms among patients with acute coronary disease (the REACT trial) . Coronary Artery Dis . 2000;11:399–407
  31. Everts B , Karlson BW , Wahrborg P , Hedner T , Herlitz J . Localization of pain in suspected acute myocardial infarction in relation to final diagnosis, age and sex, and site and type of infarction . Heart Lung . 1996;25:430–437
  32. Meshack AF , Goff DC , Chan W , Ramsey D , Linares A , Reyna R , et al.   Comparison of reported symptoms of acute myocardial infarction in Mexican Americans versus non-Hispanic whites (the Corpus Christi Heart Project) . Am J Cardiol . 1998;82:1329–1332
  33. Penque S , Halm M , Smith M , Deutsch J , Van Roekel M , McLaughlin L , et al.   Women and coronary disease (relationship between descriptors of signs and symptoms and diagnostic and treatment course) . Am J Crit Care . 1998;7:175–182
  34. Alpert JS , Thygesen K , Antman E , Bassand JP . Myocardial infarction redefined—a consensus document of The Joint European Society of Cardiology/American College of Cardiology Committee for the redefinition of myocardial infarction . J Am Coll Cardiol . 2000;36:959–969
  35. Tunstall-Pedoe H , Morrison C , Woodward M , Fitzpatrick B , Watt G . Sex differences in myocardial infarction and coronary deaths in the Scottish MONICA population of Glasgow 1985 to 1991. Presentation, diagnosis, treatment, and 28-day case fatality of 3991 events in men and 1551 events in women . Circulation . 1996;93:1981–1992
  36. Muller-Bardorff M , Weidtmann B , Giannitsis E , Kurowski V , Katus HA . Release kinetics of cardiac troponin T in survivors of confirmed severe pulmonary embolism . Clin Chem . 2002;48:673–675
  37. Meier MA , Al-Badr WH , Cooper JV , Kline-Rogers EM , Smith DE , Eagle KA , et al.   The new definition of myocardial infarction (diagnostic and prognostic implications in patients with acute coronary syndromes) . Arch Intern Med . 2002;162:1585–1589
  38. Pell JP , Simpson E , Rodger JC , Finlayson A , Clark D , Anderson J , et al.   Impact of changing diagnostic criteria on incidence, management, and outcome of acute myocardial infarction (retrospective cohort study) . BMJ . 2003;326:134–135
  39. Dargie H . Myocardial infarction (redefined or reinvented?) . Heart . 2002;88:1–3

 This research was supported by an Institutional National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Nursing Research (2 T32-NR07088).

PII: S0147-9563(05)00008-7

doi: 10.1016/j.hrtlng.2004.12.004

Heart & Lung: The Journal of Acute and Critical Care
Volume 34, Issue 4 , Pages 240-247 , July 2005