A new study has found that women are often not given the same treatment as men when they have a heart attack. According to the BBC on Monday, researchers said that fewer women would die if doctors gave them the same treatment as men.

The news comes from an analysis of the outcomes of more than 180,000 Swedish heart attack patients over a 10-year period. The researchers from the University of Leeds and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden found that women were twice as likely to die from the most serious type of heart attack in the year following it, due to differences in care.

The team examined data from Sweden's digital cardiac registry and discovered that women were less likely to receive recommended treatments after a potentially fatal type of heart attack called a STEMI. The women who had a STEMI were 34% less likely to receive procedures which clear blocked arteries, for instance bypass surgery and stents.

Women were 24% less likely to be prescribed statin medication – which prevents a second attack – and were 16% less likely to be given aspirin, which is administered to prevent blood clots. Crucially, the study concluded that when women were given the correct treatment, the gap in mortality decreased in almost all circumstances.

Co-author of the study Prof Chris Gale, from the University of Leeds, noted that such gender biases for heart disease occur in the UK as well. He explained: "There's misconception amongst the general public and healthcare professionals about what heart attack patients are like. Typically, when we think of a heart attack patient, we see a middle-aged man who is overweight, has diabetes and smokes."

Women were found to be 50% more likely to be misdiagnosed and less likely to receive the same diagnostic tests as men, which Prof Chris Gale notes: "then feeds the whole [pathway of care]. If you missed the first, earliest opportunity for care -- you're much more likely to miss the next point of contact -- and it all adds up cumulatively and leads to a greater mortality."