Gender differences in the characteristics of acute coronary syndromes in Malagasy patients

Introduction: Acute coronary syndromes constitute a diagnostic and therapeutic emergency. A difference has been observed between the sexes in the characteristics of these pathologies in terms of clinical, electrical and evolutionary manifestations [1, 2]. This first Malagasy study aims to determine the gender-specific characteristics of acute coronary syndromes with a view to implementing an appropriate and personalised diagnostic and therapeutic approach.

Methods: This is a retrospective descriptive and comparative study over a two-year period of 242 patients admitted to the cardiology department of the CHU-JR Befelatanana Antananarivo hospital with acute coronary syndrome.

Results: We found a male predominance of acute coronary syndromes with a sex ratio of 1.72. The average age of onset of these conditions was later in women than in men (p = 0.027). Women experienced more atypical pain, while men experienced more anginal pain (p = 0.006 and 0.001). Men had a four times higher risk of in-hospital death than women (p = 0.042).

Conclusion: A gender difference was also found in Malagasy patients with regard to the characteristics of acute coronary syndromes. Knowledge of these gender-specific characteristics of these pathologies plays a significant role in conducting an appropriate diagnostic approach to improve patient prognosis according to their individual risk.