Published in:
01-06-2019 | Myocardial Infarction | Psychological Aspects of Cardiovascular Diseases (A Steptoe, Section Editor)
Psychosocial Factors and Recovery After Acute Myocardial Infarction in Younger Women
Published in: Current Cardiology Reports | Issue 6/2019
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Purpose of Review
To explain sex and gender approaches to studying acute myocardial infarction (AMI) risk and outcomes in younger women (18–55 years). More specifically, by looking at the AMI care pathway—from AMI risk to receiving acute and follow-up outpatient care to longer term AMI outcomes—we will examine where potential psychosocial factors may be associated with inequalities in AMI care and outcomes in younger women.
Recent Findings
Despite recent declines in AMI incidence, morbidity, and mortality rates, younger women stand out as a group whose incidence has risen and who face worse outcomes following AMI, as compared with other groups. A focus on gender, rather than the binary, biological sex construct, allowed researchers to better understand potential pathways as to why younger women are facing this risk. Feminine traits and disproportionate exposures to psychosocial stressors in society at large may be correlated with inequalities in AMI care and further AMI outcomes in younger women. Psychosocial interventions in women with AMI that have proven to be successful have embraced this wider gender concept.
Summary
Adopting a wider gender-concept to understand roles and demands that are placed on individuals that make them more at risk to experience psychosocial stressors and make it more challenging to organize self-care, get access to care, and equitable care may be needed.