According to research, statins are prescribed for heart disease in males more frequently than in women.
They observe that, within the first three years following a diagnosis, the use of cholesterol-lowering drugs declines, with a more marked drop in women. Although women are more likely than males to develop heart disease, they also die from it at a higher rate.
Research presented at the ESC Preventive Cardiology 2024, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology, indicates that men with heart disease receive treatment for high cholesterol more frequently than women with heart disease. The Swedish researchers looked at the electronic health data of 1,452 individuals (1,037 males and 415 women) who were diagnosed with chronic heart syndrome between 2012 and 2020 for their study, which hasn’t yet been published in a peer-reviewed publication.
The mean age of the subjects was 70 for women and 68 for men. Not a single individual had ever experienced a heart attack before.
The Swedish National Prescribed Drug Registry provided the researchers with information on pharmaceutical prescriptions and cholesterol levels. Participants underwent three years of follow-up after receiving their diagnosis. Compared to 74% of males, only 54% of women had received treatment with cholesterol-lowering drugs by the end of the third year. Compared to 8% of men, 5% of women had statin treatment. The investigators additionally scrutinized cholesterol levels in patients diagnosed with coronary syndrome and the interventions administered to varying age cohorts.
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center cardiologist Dr. Laxmi Mehta, who was not part in the study, stated, “Data has shown that providers did not offer statins as often as men.”