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It has been a well-known fact for decades: women who have heart attacks have worse outcomes than men. A new study from Monash University suggests that women are less comfortable calling 000 and are more likely to hesitate when they have symptoms that could signal a heart attack.
Calling emergency services leads to rapid treatment and diagnosis and reduces the amount of time spent in recovery. Mere seconds of delay in calling paramedics can be the difference between life or death.
The study saw researchers compare more than 34,000 Australian women and men and their intention to call 000 and their actual use of emergency services when they suspect they are having a heart attack. It found that women were significantly less comfortable to call (69.1% versus 76.7% men).
When asked about why they would hesitate to call 000 if experiencing symptoms, over a third of women were fearful of being a burden to the ambulance service, compared to only a quarter of men. Women were also more likely to want to be sure it was a heart attack than men, often preferring to contact their own GP than emergency services. Women were also more likely to hesitate to call 000 because they believed that biologically, they were at low risk of a heart attack.
According to Associate Professor Kathryn Eastwood, these disparities in heart attack presentations to emergency services are a global issue. This could contribute to women experiencing higher incidents of in-hospital complications following a heart attack.
“It is very concerning that in the setting of believing they are having a heart attack, around a third of people aren’t stating that they would call 000.” she said. Associate Professor Eastwood added that she urges patients to ‘call first and decide later’.
The findings from the study indicate that additional education is necessary to improve women’s comfort with seeking assistance from emergency services, to reduce sex-based disparities in heart attacks.
Written by Mollie Matthews
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