Heart attacks ‘more likely to be misdiagnosed in women’

Women who suffer heart attacks are more likely to receive an initial incorrect diagnosis, according to a new study.

The University of Leeds research analysed data from the national heart attack register MINAP2, following nearly 600,000 heart attack patients over nine years. It was found that overall, 29.9 percent of patients had an initial diagnosis that differed from their final diagnosis.

Women who were eventually diagnosed with a total blockage of the main artery had a 59 percent greater chance of a misdiagnosis, while the figure stood at 41 percent for those with a partial blockage of one or more arteries.

Overall, it means females have a 50 percent higher chance than males of receiving the wrong initial diagnosis. For both men and women, those who were misdiagnosed were 70 percent more likely to die after 30 days compared with those who received a consistent diagnosis.

Dr Chris Gale, associate professor of cardiovascular health sciences at the University of Leeds, said: "We need to work harder to shift the perception that heart attacks only affect a certain type of person."

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