Cholesterol-lowering drugs are less frequently prescribed to women compared to men, despite European Society of Cardiology (ESC) guidelines recommending statins for all patients with chronic coronary syndrome, new research has revealed.
Recommendations for target levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol are the same for women and men, but previous studies have shown that women are less likely to meet these target levels.
This new retrospective observational study, presented at the recent ESC Preventive Cardiology 2024 congress, considered whether women and men actually receive the same treatments, as is outlined in ESC guidelines.
Electronic health records were used to obtain data on cholesterol levels of 1,037 men and 415 women with a chronic coronary syndrome diagnosed between 2012 and 2020, and who had never had a heart attack. The median age was 68 years in men and 70 years in women.
Information on dispensed medications was obtained from the Swedish National Prescribed Drug Registry and participants were followed up for three years following their diagnosis.
At the end of the third year of follow-up, just 54% of women were treated with cholesterol-lowering drugs compared with 74% of men. Additionally, 5% of women were treated with statin plus ezetimibe compared with 8% of men.
Dr Nina Johnston, study author and cardiologist at Uppsala University in Sweden, said: ‘Cholesterol-lowering drugs save lives and prevent heart attacks, and should be prescribed to all patients with coronary artery disease. Unfortunately, our study shows that women are missing out on these essential medications.
During the study, the researchers also examined treatments and cholesterol levels of women and men diagnosed with a chronic coronary syndrome at different ages: less than 60, 60-69.9, 70-79.9 and 80 years or older.
In all age groups, prescription of cholesterol-lowering drugs was found to be highest at diagnosis and declined over the following three years. This decline was steeper in women compared with men.
For example, in patients under 60 years of age, 65% of women and 79% of men were treated with cholesterol-lowering drugs the week after diagnosis, compared with 52% of women and 78% of men three years later. Achievement of LDL cholesterol targets was also lower in women than men.
Dr Johnston added: ‘Our findings should be a wake-up call about the undertreatment of women with heart disease. Equal prescribing practices are needed so that women receive all recommended therapies and are protected from adverse outcomes.’
The researchers are currently investigating factors which may explain the observed sex differences.
