Pa. Johnson et al., GENDER DIFFERENCES IN THE MANAGEMENT OF ACUTE CHEST PAIN - SUPPORT FOR THE YENTL-SYNDROME, Journal of general internal medicine, 11(4), 1996, pp. 209-217
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether evaluation and management of males and
females differ after presentation to the emergency department with ac
ute chest pain. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study with follow-up at 1 m
onth. SETTING: Urban teaching hospital. PATIENTS: The study population
included 1,411 patients who were 30 years of age or older who visited
the emergency department with acute chest pain from October 1990 thro
ugh May 1992. These 1,411 patients represent 69% of the 2,056 patients
approached for consent. The utilization of exercise stress testing as
outpatients was measured for a subset of 954 patients who were interv
iewed at 1 month after their presentation. MEASUREMENTS/MAIN RESULTS:
After controlling for clinical and nonclinical predictors, women were
less likely to he admitted to the hospital (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 0
.68; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.47, 0.99). Among the 954 patients
with 1-month follow-up, women were less likely than men to undergo an
exercise stress test during the first month after presentation, with b
orderline statistical significance after adjusting for the interaction
between Bender and admission to the hospital (adjusted OR 0.30; 95% C
I 0.09, 1.0). Among the patients who were admitted to the hospital, wo
men were as likely as men to undergo exercise stress testing (adjusted
OR 0.81; 95% CI 0.57, 1.2) but were less likely to undergo cardiac ca
theterization (adjusted OR 0.44; 95% CI 0.25, 0.80). CONCLUSIONS: Gend
er-based differences in management may occur at several stages in the
evaluation of patients with acute chest pain. Observed differences in
use of invasive procedures between men and women may be due in part to
lower rates of exercise test use and admission to the hospital for ev
aluation of acute chest pain.