Comparing Sex Distribution in an International Female STEMI Cohort to US Registry Data

In a report released at the American College of Cardiology 71st Annual Scientific Session & Expo, investigators found that the proportion of women with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) internationally was “much lower, nearly half” when compared to all acute myocardial infarctions (AMIs) at United States hospitals. This conclusion was based on primary investigator, Cesar J. Herrera, and colleagues’ analysis of aggregated data from the Global Heart Attack Treatment Initiative (GHATI), which aims to improve care in low- and middle-income countries.

The researcher’s primary objective was to find the sex distribution of STEMI cases in the GHATI cohort, and compare it with all AMI cases in the Chest Pain Myocardial infarction (CPMI) National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR) registry.

The final analysis included a total of 271,890 patients, of which 2,380 were GHATI STEMI cases from 18 hospitals, 78% of which were in low-middle income nations. The remaining 269,510 patients were CPMI AMI cases from 748 institutions. After analysis, the study’s gender distribution data showed a significantly lower percent of female STEMI cases internationally relative to all AMIs in a large US cohort, and the authors suggested that “understanding the socioeconomical, cultural, or biological factors responsible for this finding deserves further study.”