‘Feminine’ traits slow heart care: study
Emergency room heart attack patients who display more “feminine” personality traits — whether they are women or men — wait longer for potentially lifesaving treatments, provocative new Canadian research suggests.
Based on more than 1,100 younger adults, the study found that, overall, males received faster access to electrocardiograms (ECGs) and clot-dissolving drugs than women. However, it’s not so much biological sex that appears to matter most.
“It’s not just about being a woman—it’s having the roles traditionally attributed to being of female sex,” said lead author and clinical psychologist Roxanne Pelletier, a postdoctoral fellow in the division of clinical epidemiology at the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal.
“So, having typically feminine personality traits, being responsible for doing housework at home, child rearing— being ‘feminine’” increased delays before treatment and lowered the odds of receiving aggressive care, in both men and women, she said.
One hypothesis is that patients who appear “fragile” or shy may downplay chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, nausea and other symptoms and may be less likely than stronger personality types to convince themselves — and others — “that they require an intervention,” Pelletier said.
Published in this week’s edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the study found that, overall, fewer than half of all men and women with heart attacks received care within recommended benchmarks.
Despite improved treatments over the last decade, women — especially younger women — are more likely than men to die after a cardiac event, Pelletier said.
The researchers studied 1,123 patients, aged 18 to 55, who were admitted to 24 hospitals in Canada, one in the U.S. and one in Switzerland for acute coronary syndrome.