Women and STEMI: a shared responsibility

Abstract

The sex-based differences in approach and mortality in the management of patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) have been known for a while now. Back in 1991 the New England Journal of Medicine published an editorial1 on this matter. In this article Healy coined the term “the Yentl Syndrome” to refer to the invisibility of women in the studies of cardiovascular disease. She argued that women should behave according to the masculine clinical standards to receive the same care; otherwise they were misdiagnosed and mistreated resulting in healthcare of a lower quality and effectiveness.