Blue Cross Blue Shield Association Study Reveals Disparities in Post-Heart Attack Treatment between Women and Men
Data shows that women receive significantly less aggressive treatments after a heart attack than men
CHICAGO, Sept. 29, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Women receive fewer aggressive treatments after a heart attack than men, a pattern that emerges even as a greater percentage of women than men die or become disabled due to heart attacks, according to a new study.
The new report by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) and Blue Health Intelligence (BHI) shows that following a heart attack, women are 27 percent less likely than men to receive angioplasties to open clogged arteries. The same data shows that women are 38 percent less likely than men to undergo coronary bypass surgery and nearly 5 percent less likely to receive coronary angiography, a diagnostic procedure that involves an X-ray examination of blood vessels. The analysis is based on independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield (BCBS) companies' 2014 claims data and reflects care provided to 43 million BCBS commercially insured members ages 18 through 64.
"Heart disease is more prevalent in men, but more deadly for women," said Trent Haywood, M.D., J.D., chief medical officer for BCBSA. "Our analysis shows that women receive significantly fewer aggressive treatments after a heart attack than men despite the fact that a greater percentage of women die from heart attacks. These findings of variations in practice patterns demonstrate the need for additional research."
The report, titled "Disparities Identified in Post-Heart Attack Treatment between Women and Men," shows that in 2014, 0.73 out of every 1,000 women experienced a heart attack compared to 1.95 per 1,000 men.* Although heart disease is more prevalent in men, women are more likely than men to die within one year of a heart attack, have another heart attack within six years and be disabled with heart failure within six years, according to the American Heart Association.
The data also shows wide geographic differences in heart attack rates among women and men. Women living in Kentucky and Ohio are three times more likely to suffer heart attacks than women residing in Colorado, Idaho and Wyoming. Men living in Vermont are more than twice as susceptible to heart attacks as men living in Montana.
"As healthcare moves towards the era of personalized or precision medicine, the differences between women and men may play an increasing role in diagnosis and treatment," Haywood said. "The findings from this report highlight the need for additional examination of treatment patterns and social determinants of heart health at the local and national level."
"With the treatment of women's hearts largely based on medical research on men for the last 50 years, the report's findings around disparities in care for women unfortunately come as no surprise," said British Robinson, chief executive officer of the Women's Heart Alliance. "It's time to fight back. This report reinforces our mission and our nationwide Fight the Ladykiller campaign to build greater awareness and knowledge of the women's heart health epidemic and gender differences."
"Women's hearts are under-researched, under-treated and get misdiagnosed far more often than our male counterparts — facts further underscored by The Health of America Report," said Dr. Paula Johnson, professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School and executive director of the Connors Center for Women's Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital. "With heart disease as the leading cause of death among women in the U.S., more research to understand the sex differences in heart disease in order to diagnose and treat women's unique hearts should be a national priority."
This study of disparities in post-heart attack treatment between women and men is the third report by Blue Cross Blue Shield, The Health of America Report, a collaboration between BCBSA and BHI, which uses a market-leading claims database to uncover key trends and provide insight into healthcare affordability and access to care.
For more information on Blue Cross Blue Shield, The Health of America Report, visit www.bcbs.com/healthofamerica.
* This analysis is based on one year (2014) of independent BCBS companies' claims data, focusing on people ages 18 through 64. The dataset contains over 43 million Blue Cross and Blue Shield commercially-insured members (excludes Medicare and Medicaid).
About Blue Cross Blue Shield Association
Blue Cross Blue Shield Association is a national federation of 36 independent, community-based and locally operated Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies that collectively provide healthcare coverage for more than 105 million members – one in three Americans. For more information on the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and its member companies, please visit www.BCBS.com. We encourage you to connect with us on Facebook, check out our videos on YouTube, follow us on Twitter and check out The BCBS Blog for up-to-date information about BCBSA.
About BHI
Health Intelligence Company is the nation's premier health intelligence resource, delivering data-driven insights about healthcare trends and best practices, resulting in healthier lives and more affordable access to safe and effective care. HIC accesses healthcare claims data from more than 140 million individuals nationwide, collected over nine years, in a safe, HIPAA compliant and secure database. The resulting conformed, reliable data set has the broadest, deepest pool of integrated medical and pharmacy claims, reflecting medical utilization in every ZIP code. Health Intelligence Company, LLC operates under the trade name Blue Health Intelligence (BHI) and is an Independent Licensee of BCBSA. For more information, visit http://www.bluehealthintelligence.com/.
About The Women's Heart Alliance
The Women's Heart Alliance (WHA) was founded to help eliminate deaths and disability from women's heart disease. It is a unique collaboration between Barbra Streisand and Ronald O. Perelman and two of America's leading medical institutions—the Barbra Streisand Women's Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute and the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. For more information, visit www.fighttheladykiller.org.
The Women's Heart Alliance is a project of the New Venture Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity.
SOURCE Blue Cross Blue Shield Association
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