Artificial Intelligence Enhances Heart Attack Treatment in Women

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Using a novel artificial- intelligence-based risk score that accounts for sex-related differences in the baseline risk profile of heart attack improves the prediction of mortality in women. This finding is reported in the journal The Lancet.

Heart attacks are one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and women who suffer a heart attack have a higher mortality rate than men. This has been a matter of concern to cardiologists for decades and has led to controversy in the medical field about the causes and effects of possible gaps in treatment.

‘Modern computer algorithms can make accurate predictions about the prognosis of a heart attack in individual patients, which is the key to individualized treatments.’

The problem starts with the symptoms: unlike men, who usually experience chest pain with radiation to the left arm, a heart attack in women often manifests as abdominal pain radiating to the back or as nausea and vomiting. These symptoms are unfortunately often misinterpreted by the patients and healthcare personnel - with disastrous consequences.

Is Heart Attack Risk Profile is Different in Women?

An international research team led by Thomas F. L�scher, professor at the Center for Molecular Cardiology at the University of Zurich (UZH), has now investigated the role of biological sex in heart attacks in more detail.

Indeed, there are notable differences in the disease phenotype observed in females and males. This study shows that women and men differ significantly in their risk factor profiles at hospital admission.

When age differences at admission and existing risk factors such as hypertension and diabetes are disregarded, female heart-attack patients have higher mortality than male patients.

Researchers from Switzerland and the United Kingdom analyzed data from 420,781 patients across Europe who had suffered the most common type of heart attack.

The study shows that established risk models which guide current patient management are less accurate in females and favor the undertreatment of female patients.

Artificial Intelligence and Heart Attack Treatment

Many researchers and biotech companies agree that artificial intelligence and Big Data analytics are the next steps on the road to personalized patient care.

Researchers see huge potential in the application of artificial intelligence for the management of heart disease both in male and female patients. They hope the implementation of this novel score in treatment algorithms will refine current treatment strategies, reduce sex inequalities, and eventually improve the survival of patients with heart attacks - both male and female.



Source: Eurekalert