- Existing tests for cardiac trouble in women have diagnosis rate of only 11%
- But a new £20 blood test produces a 22% rate for both sexes, experts say
- Test measures levels of troponin protein, produced by damaged heart cells
- About 110,000 men and 65,000 women in UK diagnosed with a heart attack each year
- Women are three times as likely to die from one than from breast cancer
Doctors believe a £20 test will save many lives by identifying damage to heart cells that they would otherwise have missed
A new £20 blood test doubles the chance of spotting hidden heart attacks in women.
Doctors believe it will save many lives by identifying damage to heart cells that they would otherwise have missed.
Existing checks are good at picking up cardiac trouble in men suffering chest pains, with a diagnosis rate of 19 per cent. However the rate for women is only 11 per cent.
The new test, which is much more sensitive, produces a 22 per cent rate for both sexes.
Patients whose heart attacks are not detected are more likely to have further - potentially fatal - episodes because they are not given the correct treatment.
Developed by US firm Abbott, the test measures levels of troponin, a protein produced by damaged heart cells.
It detects extra cases in women both because it is more sensitive and because doctors have lowered the threshold for a positive reading in females.
Anoop Shah, a University of Edinburgh cardiologist who has studied the test, said: ‘While similar numbers of men and women attend A&E with chest pains, we wanted to know why women are less likely to be diagnosed with a heart attack.
‘Our findings suggest one reason for this difference in diagnosis rates for men and women is that we, as doctors, may have been using a threshold for troponin testing that is too high in women.
Whether using different thresholds for men and women will lead to more accurate diagnosis and improve outcomes is now being evaluated in a large clinical trial funded by the British Heart Foundation.’
Dr Shah based his 22 per cent diagnostic rate on the cases of 1,000 men and women admitted to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh with chest pain.
Peter Weissberg, the BHF’s medical director, said the new test took advantage of the fact that the danger level for troponin is lower in women than in men.
The professor added: ‘This research has shown that the results of the commonly used troponin blood test are significant at different levels in men and women.
'When the researchers took this into account, they found that twice as many women would be diagnosed with a heart attack.
Developed by US firm Abbott, the test measures levels of troponin, a protein produced by damaged heart cells (file picture)
‘If these results are confirmed in the much larger clinical trial we’re funding, they suggest that using a high-sensitivity troponin test, with a threshold specific to each gender, could save many more women’s lives by identifying them earlier to take steps to prevent them dying or having another, bigger heart attack.’
High-sensitivity testing was approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence last year but this is the first evidence of the value of gender-specific tests.
The price of the standard and the high-sensitivity test is the same: £20. Diagnosis of a heart attack is usually based on symptoms backed up by tests.
Patients with chest pain may be given an electrocardiogram as well as blood tests to assess damage to the heart muscle.
Troponins, which are found inside heart cells, are released into the bloodstream when they become damaged by lack of blood supply to the heart.
Every year around 110,000 men and 65,000 women in the UK are diagnosed with a heart attack
Three weeks ago, Jenni Stevens, from Edinburgh, collapsed at work with chest pain. The 41-year-old was rushed to the Royal Infirmary where she was diagnosed with a heart attack after being given the high-sensitive troponin blood test with the lower threshold for women.
Jenni said: ‘I’d been having chest pains for about a month. As a working mum, I put it down to stress. But last week, as I was walking into work, the pain got much worse and I collapsed, causing my colleagues to call an ambulance.
‘I felt a sense of reassurance when I got to the hospital. They took my blood and did other tests. They thought I’d had a heart attack.
'I was treated with a stent to save my life. I’m so grateful that my heart attack was spotted and treated so well.’
Every year around 110,000 men and 65,000 women in the UK are diagnosed with a heart attack, and women are three times as likely to die from one than from breast cancer.
The Edinburgh research was reported in the British Medical Journal.
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