Health
Leading cardiology groups agree to first universal definition of a heart attack
The updated standards aim to eliminate historical diagnostic biases that have disadvantaged women.
The short version
- The world's four leading cardiovascular health groups have established the first universal definition and diagnostic guidelines for heart attacks.
- The new guidelines lower the diagnostic threshold for a key protein biomarker in women and upgrade three types of heart attacks that are more common in women.
- The changes are intended to address historical systemic biases and improve treatment speed and accuracy for female patients.
Key facts
- The European Society of Cardiology, the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, and the World Heart Federation agreed to the new standards at a congress in Munich.[The Guardian]
- The update reduces the threshold of troponin—a protein released during heart injury—required to diagnose a heart attack in women, who previously had to meet the same diagnostic threshold as men.[The Guardian]
- Three types of heart attacks that are up to 10 times more common in women—coronary artery spasm, coronary embolism, and spontaneous coronary artery dissection (Scad)—have been upgraded in priority.[The Guardian]
- The guidelines, developed by an international taskforce led by University of Edinburgh cardiologist Prof Nicholas Mills, were published in the European Heart Journal.[The Guardian]