Women are more likely to experience serious complications after heart surgery than men are, a new study finds.
Researchers say female patients are nearly 40 percent more likely to have a bad outcome and about twice as likely to have a stroke or die after a procedure as male patients.
They believe women may not be diagnosed with heart problems as quickly as men are or that women's hearts and blood vessels are more 'fragile' and, therefore, they need more delicate procedures than the ones men undergo.
The team, led by Lawson Health Research Institute in Ontario, Canada, says it hopes the findings leading to cardiologists practicing more personalized medicine as opposed to a standard approach for all their patients.
A new study has found that women are 40 percent more likely to have a bad outcome following heart surgery than men are (file image)
For the study, published in Circulation, the team looked at 1,700 male and female patients who had surgery across 10 clinics in Canada for a thoracic aortic aneurysm.
The aorta is the body's main artery that carries blood from the heart to the rest of the body.
A thoracic aortic aneurysm occurs when a weakened area of the upper part of the aorta creates a bulge.
This bulge can rupture and lead to a tear in the artery wall, which causes life-threatening bleeding, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Researchers studied three different surgery outcomes: complications, stroke and early death.
In every category, women fared worse than men.
The team found that women were 40 percent more likely to have a complication, 90 percent more likely to have a stroke and 80 percent more likely to die.
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