Coronary artery disease and acute coronary syndrome in women

Abstract

There are important dissimilarities in clinical presentation, aggregation of comorbidities, cardiovascular risk factors and the quality of delivery of medical care among men and women with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Compared with men, despite the well-known older age and more pronounced frailty, women with ACS present later from symptom onset and are at high bleeding risk after invasive procedures. In addition, autoimmune/inflammatory disease, fibromuscular dysplasia, polycystic ovary, early menopause and history of pre-eclampsia are risk factors preceding ACS among younger women. They more often experience myocardial infarction in the absence of obstructive coronary arteries (MINOCA), which makes diagnosis and treatment of ACS among women more challenging compared with men. Women and men do both benefit from guideline-recommended treatment, although, compared with men, women with ACS have a higher adjusted risk of early death, which equalises between both sexes within the first year. Young women with ACS suffer frequently of depression and present often with MINOCA. Compared with young men, they (young women) have a higher risk of death. Therefore, focusing on young patients with ACS, understanding the particular physiopathology of MINOCA and developing programmes targeting comorbidities and depression-related behavioural risk factors are urgently needed.