Abbott’sARCHITECT STATHigh Sensitive Troponin-I (hsTnI) test may help clinicians detect twice as many cases of myocardial infarction (MI) in women. Results have shown that the test is able todiagnose an MI in 22% of cases for women compared to a standard of 11% when usinga gender-specific threshold (an approach to setting diagnostic thresholds which tailors treatment andtest thresholds by gender).
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The hsTnI test can measure very low levels of cardiac troponin, a protein that at increasedlevels can indicate injury to the heart.This is especially important for women, who often have lowerlevels of troponin than men. As a result, some women may have their infarctions undetected andundiagnosed. These factors, as well as others, contribute to inequalities in the diagnosis andtreatment of women.
“Women are likely to have poorer outcomes following a heart attack compared to men of the sameage,” said Dr Shah, one of the authors of a report published in the British Medical Journal (Anoop S, Mills N, Griffiths Met al. High-sensitivity cardiac troponin and the under-diagnosis of myocardial infarction in women: a prospective cohort study. BMJ2015; 350: g7873 [www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.g7873.long]).
“While men andwomen are just as likely to present to the accident and emergency (A&E) department with chest pain, men are twice as likely to be diagnosed with a heart attack. The hsTnI test, with gender-specific thresholds for men and women, may diagnose more heart attacks in women, and identify those at high risk who may benefit from targeted, evidence-based therapy.”
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