Heart attack is a typical male disease

The heart attack is still a typical male disease. In Germany, significantly more men die as a result of an infarction than women. At the autumn conference of the German Society of Cardiology, the experts presented the new Heart Report 2009.

A heart attack men suffer much more often than women. So put the cardiologist and physician Dr. Ernst Bruckenberger at the autumn conference of the German Society of Cardiology (DGK) notes: "A heart attack in Germany is still predominantly a male disease". The experts presented at the symposium u.a. the current numbers.

In the last year of 2009, 133,636 men were hospitalized because of a heart attack, according to the Heart Report. In contrast, 77,069 women were hospitalized for heart attack. Every year, 30,559 men and 26,216 women die of heart attacks in Germany. Whether the patients survive a heart attack depends very much on the regional location, as the heart specialists explain in the presented report: „There can be no talk in Germany of a roughly uniform supply landscape for essential heart diseases“, so the DGK author Ernst Bruckenberger.

On average, 69.2 patients out of a population of 100,000 die every year from a heart attack in Germany, according to the Heart Report. It is striking that the age-adjusted mortality rate in East Germany (Berlin excluded) is much higher than in West Germany. For example, this could be an indication of a medical undersupply, among other factors. Because by 10 to 46 percent, the average mortality rate is higher than in the old federal states. The death rates are lowest in the states of Schleswig-Holstein, Hesse, Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen.

On the positive side, it is true that heart attack as such still has a high mortality rate, although the numbers have fallen significantly in recent years. "The number of heart attack deaths has fallen by a total of 10,507 fatalities or 15.4 percent since the year 2000," concludes Bruckenberger. The death rate has decreased in men and women in all age groups. The strongest decline is in patients between the ages of 70 and 80 years. The doctors see this as a sign of progress in diagnostics and therapy.

About a quarter of the infarcts remain undetected at first, as this causes little or no discomfort. Especially women confused a heart attack with abdominal discomfort. Typical symptoms of myocardial infarction are severe, burning pain in the left chest. The pain can radiate to the upper abdomen, left arm, upper abdomen, lower jaw and back. Patients who suffer from a heart attack also feel strong fears, shortness of breath, sweats and possibly nausea, dizziness and vomiting. An infarct at the heart is a circulatory disorder due to vascular occlusion of parts of the heart muscle. This is an acute emergency and needs immediate medical attention. About 50 percent of those affected survive a heart attack. Known risks that can cause an infarction is in addition to a genetic disposition, obesity, high blood pressure, excessive stress and, above all, smoking.

More than 2,000 doctors from Germany, Switzerland and Austria took part in the Heart Symposium. It ended this Saturday. (sb, 11.10.2010)

Also read:
Heart attack risk in eastern Germany higher
Men live unhealthier than women
Aircraft noise increases heart attack risk