EMS Treatment for Possible Heart Attack Varies by Sex

Disparities exist in the emergency medical services (EMS) treatment of women and men with chest pain (CP) or out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), according to a study published online Dec. 10 in Women's Health Issues.

Jannet F. Lewis, M.D., from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and colleagues used data from the National Emergency Medical Services Information System (2010 to 2013) to identify gender disparities in the prehospital management of CP or OHCA among patients (≥40 years) who accessed the EMS system.

Based on approximately 2.4 million CP and 284,000 OHCA activations, the researchers found that women with CP received a lower percentage of recommended treatments compared with men. Among women with CP, for every 100 EMS activations, 2.8 fewer women received aspirin. Further, women were significantly less likely to be transported using lights and sirens than men (−4.6 percent). While >90 percent of OHCA activations were resuscitated, women were significantly less likely to be resuscitated than men (−1.3 percent).

"Small to modest disparities between otherwise similar women and men in the EMS treatment of CP and OHCA suggest the need for further evaluation and research with detailed contextual and outcome data," the authors write.

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