Gender bias in the clinical management of women with angina: another look at the Yentl syndrome.

Background: Woman with heart disease may receive lower levels of clinical care than men. We assessed whether the Yentl syndrome (women receive equivalent care to men only when they demonstrate that they are like men by having a heart attack) operates in the management of angina pectoris in primary care.

Methods: The study design is a cross-sectional survey of 1162 angina patients (552 women) managed in eight sentinel centers serving 15% of the population of Liverpool.