Study shows gender differences in time to coronary care; women wait longer

TORONTO – A new study suggests younger women wait longer in emergency rooms than men for essential treatment after having a heart attack or other coronary event.

The study also suggests that both women and men who present themselves as more feminine than masculine wait longer for care.

The first author of the study says that may mean that men and women who score more highly on the gender presentation tool are less assertive about needing treatment.

Roxanne Pelletier says the message for people of both genders is that if they go to hospital emergency rooms with chest pain they should be assertive, concise and precise when they describe their symptoms.

Pelletier, who is a clinical psychologist at the McGill University Health Centre, says emergency department staff also need to be more aware of the possibility of heart attacks in younger adults of both genders.

She says some may be confusing women’s coronary symptoms with panic attacks.

The study is published in this week’s issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal.