New research in the latest edition of Circulation: The Journal of the American Heart Association notes that women hospitalized with heart attacks don’t get the treatment they need in proper time and are more likely to die.

The study involved more than 78,000 people treated for heart attacks at 420 US hospitals between 2001 and 2006 and was led by a Baylor College of Medicine cardiologist. It found that women who suffered a type of heart attack called a ST-elevation myocardial infarction, or STEMI, had a 12 percent higher risk of dying in the hospital than men. Moreover, during the first 24 hours of hospitalization, women with such an infarct were about twice as likely to die as men.

“We’re doing better but not good enough for women,” said Dr. Hani Jneid, lead author of the study from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

What does exactly lead to this situation? Dr. Nieca Goldberg, a cardiologist who specializes in women’s care, said the study clearly shows that women’s heart attack symptoms still are not being taken seriously. Moreover, women don’t have typical symptoms like chest pains, but may experience pain lower in their bodies or severe shortness of breath.

The study also showed that women were 14 percent less likely to receive early aspirin, 10 percent less likely to be given beta blocker drugs, 25 percent less likely to receive reperfusion therapy to restore blood flow and 13 percent less likely to have artery-opening angioplasty within 90 minutes of arrival at the hospital.