Risk of Death from Heart Attack High in Younger Hispanic Women

Research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2013 says that younger Hispanic women face a higher risk of death in hospitals after a heart attack. The study added that they are also more likely to suffer from co-existing conditions such as diabetes, and are less likely to undergo percutaneous coronary interventions or coronary artery bypass surgery as compared with white women and men.

Researchers analyzed a large in-patient population of about 207,000 heart attack hospitalizations for adult men and women with race/ethnicity data, including more than 6,500 Hispanic and black women less than 65 years old. Hispanic and black women were significantly younger at the time of hospitalization for heart attack compared with their white counterparts. Researchers found:

• After adjusting for clinical and demographic characteristics, younger Hispanic, black and white women were 1.5, 1.4, and 1.2 times more likely, respectively to experience higher in-hospital death compared with white men.
• Younger Hispanic women also suffered the highest rates of diabetes at 55.9 percent compared with 46.1 percent of black women and 35.9 percent of white women.
• 47.4 percent black women, 50.1 percent of Hispanic women and 58.2 percent of white women had percutaneous coronary interventions or coronary artery bypass surgery compared to 73.3 percent of white men.