More than a third of women with a common heart disorder are misdiagnosed with anxiety, according to a study by researchers at Allegheny University of the Health Sciences.
Only 4 percent of men in the study were misdiagnosed. The report is one more in a growing number that show doctors treat men and women differently.
The study of a common type of arrythmia was made public last week at the annual meeting of the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology in New Orleans.
``It's blown off as a panic disorder when in reality there's something wrong with you,'' said Colin Movsowitz, an electrophysiologist who co-authored the study.
Allegheny cardiology fellow Dina Yazmajian, now at Abington Memorial Hospital, surveyed 98 patients who received radio frequency ablation, a procedure to correct this type of arrythmia, called paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT).
Among those people, 35 percent of women said they were originally misdiagnosed with anxiety and half of those women were needlessly prescribed anxiety medication. The symptoms of PSVT and anxiety are nearly identical: dizziness, shortness of breath, heart palpitations and light-headedness.
