Dr. Gunther Heller says the study findings contradict and disprove the hypothesis that a myocardial infarction is not as reliably recognized in women as in men, so women may sometimes receive inadequate care.

The study authors analyzed the medical data of a large general health insurance company of patients who had received hospital treatment for a myocardial infarction from 2004 to 2005. Within this period, 57,000 women and 75,000 men insured by the company in Germany suffered from a myocardial infarction.

After allowing for the age of the patients, there was no difference in mortality between men and women. Mortality was only slightly increased in the small group of women under 50 years of age, in comparison with men of the same age, Heller says.

The findings are published in the Deutsches Arzteblatt International.