(Philadelphia)August 31 -- The incidence of acute myocardial infarction in Italy sharply increased, particularly among young women, between the years 2001 and 2005, according to a comprehensive study funded by the Human Health Foundation (HHF), a nonprofit Italian charity for biomedical research and health education in Spoleto, Italy. The results were published in Aging Clinical Experimental Research.
"The study suggests that more information on measures to reduce risk factors for heart failure should be directed towards young women," says Antonio Giordano, MD, PhD, President and Founder of the Sbarro Health Research Organization for Biotechnology (SHRO), located in the College of Science and Technology at Temple University in Philadelphia and the Founder and Director of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the HHF.
The study shows that the total number of acute myocardial infarctions were over 118,000 (of which 75,000 were men and 43,000 women) in the year 2005 against 96,000 in 2001.
"The increase was 17.2% in men and 29.2% in women," says lead author Prisco Piscitelli, MD, an epidemiologist at the ISBEM (Euro Mediterranean Biomedical and Scientific Institute) in Brindisi, Italy, SHRO and HHF. "The greatest number of hospitalizations for heart failure was recorded in men aged 45 to 64 years (29,900 cases in 2005) and in women over 75 years of age (26,500 cases). In the later age group women overtook men, who had 24,000 admissions in 2005."
Across the board, the increase in the number of hospitalizations for heart failure from 2001 to 2005 was found to be higher in women in all age groups examined, reaching peaks of 36% in women over seventy five years but with an impressive +22% (compared to a nearly stationary +8% men) found in younger women aged between 45 and 64 years.
"In our earlier HHF and SHRO survey on breast cancer, we also found that younger women in particular had an increased risk of disease," notes Dr. Giordan
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| Contact: Ilene Raymond Rush irush@shro.org 215-470-2998 Sbarro Health Research Organization Source:Eurekalert |