Women may respond less to two heart drugs

NEW YORK, July 3 (UPI) -- Women may respond less favorably than men to cardiovascular disease drug treatments -- losartan and atenolol -- for enlarged hearts, U.S. researchers said.

Researchers at the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center said women derive a lesser benefit than men from the two common high-blood pressure-lowering drugs for the reduction of left-ventricular hypertrophy. The condition is a thickening and enlargement of muscle of the left ventricle of the heart and a marker for future heart disease. The observations were made despite results showing that blood pressure reduction was similar between genders.

The findings might explain how this underlying condition puts women at greater risk for heart disease later in life.

"Women have a greater chance of dying of their first heart attack and from stroke, and they tend to have more cardiovascular problems later in life compared with men," lead author Dr. Peter M. Okin, a cardiologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell said in a statement.

The study and accompanying editorial were published in Hypertension, the journal of the American Heart Association.