Women’s Ischemic Syndrome Evaluation

Women and cardiovascular disease: at a social disadvantage?

BACKGROUND

Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death in Australian women. The genesis and progression of cardiovascular disease is modulated by a complex interplay of genetic, physiological, social and economic circumstances. Increasingly the impact of racial, ethic, social and economic inequalities is identified as predictors of cardiovascular disease outcome. Despite important advances over the last 30 years in reducing age adjusted mortality from cardiovascular disease, it continues to represent a major social and economic burden nationally and internationally.

AIM

This paper provides a critical review of the social issues impacting upon women in Australia. It also identifies areas for future interventions with a view to improving outcomes in women with cardiovascular disease.

METHOD

The bibliographic databases; CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycARTICLES, were searched for relevant studies using the search terms 'women', 'cardiovascular disease', and 'socio-economic status'.

FINDINGS

While some gains have been made in reducing the risk factor profile and rates of death from cardiovascular disease, it is clear that gender, race and socioeconomic disparities persist.

CONCLUSIONS

New approaches are required to improve health differentials for CVD, and reduce the impact of gender, racial, ethic, social and economic factors on health disparities.

Contemporary treatment of Western and Chinese medicine for cardiac syndrome X

Clinical reports on cardiac syndrome X (CSX) have been increasing in recent years. In general, CSX does not increase the cardiovascular mortality, but it can affect the patient's quality of life (QOL) and increase the incidence rates of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events. Although a variety of drugs and therapies have been utilized in the clinical treatment, the management of CSX still represents a major challenge due to its unclear pathogenesis. It is necessary to explore more effective treatment programs. Many attempts have been made on trials of the Chinese medicine (CM) treatment for CSX and proved that CM has a certain advantage in efficacy to improve clinical symptoms and QOL. CM may provide a new approach for the effective treatment of CSX.

Acute coronary syndromes in the emergency department: diagnostic characteristics, tests, and challenges

Failure to diagnose patients who have acute coronary syndromes (ACSs)-either acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or unstable angina pectoris (UAP)-who present to the emergency department (ED) remains a serious public health issue. Better understanding of the pathophysiology of coronary artery disease has allowed the adoption of a unifying hypothesis for the cause of ACSs: the conversion of a stable atherosclerotic lesion to a plaque rupture with thrombosis. Thus, physicians have come to appreciate UAP and AMI as parts of a continuum of ACSs. This article reviews the state of the art regarding the diagnosis of ACSs in the emergency setting and suggests reasons why missed diagnosis continues to occur, albeit infrequently.

Coronary artery disease in women: a review on prevention, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment

Despite numerous studies on women's cardiac health throughout the past decade, the number of female deaths caused by cardiovascular disease still rises and remains the leading cause of death in women in most areas of the world. Novel studies have demonstrated that cardiovascular disease, and more specifically coronary artery disease presentations in women, are different than those in men. In addition, pathology and pathophysiology of the disease present significant gender differences, which leads to difficulties concerning diagnosis, treatment and outcome of the female population. The reason for this disparity is all steps for female cardiovascular disease evaluation, treatment and prevention are not well elucidated; and an area for future research. This review brings together the most recent studies published in the field of coronary artery disease in women and points out new directions for future investigation on some of the important issues.