Originally published September 12 2005
Women often left out of heart drug trials
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Women are frequently underrepresented in studies of heart problems and heart drug treatments, according to German researchers, yet they are prescribed the same drugs as men, despite the lack of knowledge on their safety and effectiveness for women.
Not enough is known of the potential side-effects of heart drugs on women, according to leading scientists.
German researchers claim that women are under-represented in studies involving coronary heart disease, arterial hypertension and heart failure.
Writing in the European Heart Journal, Dr Verena Stangl, a professor of cardiology, commented: "Because too few women participate in heart disease trials we are not sure whether they really benefit from some therapeutic strategies that have shown clinical benefit in trials conducted predominantly in men.
"So, we prescribe drugs to women adapted from evidence-based data obtained from studies conducted mainly in men and we do not really know whether we help or harm the female patients."
Following a review of research into the treatment of cardiovascular disease in women, Dr Stangl and her team concluded that women's response to drugs was often different to men's.
The team found that aspirin may not be as effective in preventing heart attacks in women as it is for men, while Digitalis - prescribed to patients with heart failure - is associated with higher mortality in female patients.
In addition, potentially life-threatening heart rhythm disorders (arrythmias) occur much more often in women, so they need closer monitoring when undergoing anti-arrhythmic treatment.
Senior author Dr Silvia Priori, associate professor of cardiology at the University of Pavia, urged the scientific community to undertake studies into gender-specific response to therapy.
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