Evaluation of demographic and clinical characteristics of female patients presenting with MINOCA and differences between male patients: A subgroup analysis of MINOCA-TR registry

AIM
Although the MINOCA (Myocardial Infarction with Non-obstructive Coronary Arteries) prevalence is higher in rate in female patients than male counterparts in previous cohorts, potential demographic and clinical differences between in female patients who are diagnosed as MINOCA vs MIOCA (Myocardial Infarction with obstructive Coronary Arteries) have not been studied until to date. The present study aimed to document these characteristics and to compare them between female MINOCA and MIOCA patients.

METHODS
The study was a subgroup analysis of the MINOCA-TR study. The study was a multi-center, observational cohort study that was conducted in Turkey between March 2018 and October 2018. In this study, 477 (29.3%) female patients who have been diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction were evaluated.

RESULTS
Among those women 49 (10.3%) of them were diagnosed as MINOCA (mean age: 58.9±12.9) and 428 (89.7%) of them had a final diagnosis of MIOCA (mean age: 67.4±11.8). The prevalences of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes mellitus were significantly lower in the MINOCA group than in the MIOCA group. Additionally, the MINOCA group had higher rates of recent flu history and non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) presentation compared with the MIOCA group. There were significant clinical differences in MINOCA patients in terms of gender. When compared to male cases, female patients were older, had higher systolic blood pressure and lower hemoglobin levels.

CONCLUSION
The study revealed that traditional coronary artery disease risk factors were in lower prevalence in female MINOCA patients compared to female patients who had final diagnosis of MIOCA.