Coronary Spasm: Ethnic and Sex Differences

Peter Ong; Astrid Hubert; Maike Schwidder; John F Beltrame

doi:10.15420/ecr.2023.13

Coronary Spasm: Ethnic and Sex Differences

Eur Cardiol. 2023 Jun 7:18:e43. doi: 10.15420/ecr.2023.13. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Peter Ong¹, Astrid Hubert¹, Maike Schwidder¹, John F Beltrame^{2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Robert-Bosch-Krankenhaus, Department of Cardiology and Angiology Stuttgart, Germany.
² The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Adelaide, Australia.
³ Discipline of Medicine, University of Adelaide Adelaide, Australia.
⁴ Central Adelaide Local Health Network Adelaide, Australia.

Abstract

Coronary spasm (CS), which may occur at the epicardial (focal or diffuse spasm) and/or microvascular (microvascular spasm) level, is a well-established cause of myocardial ischaemia, in particular in patients with anginal chest pain despite unobstructed coronary arteries. The diagnosis of CS can be confirmed during coronary angiography by an additional provocation test with vasoactive substances such as acetylcholine. Due to partially inconsistent data from large clinical studies, especially between Asian and white CS patients, ethnic differences concerning the prevalence and angiographic patterns of CS seem to exist. Furthermore, several studies in patients with coronary vasomotor disorders pointed towards differences among male and female CS patients. This article gives an overview of ethnic- and sex-related differences in patients with CS.

Keywords: Coronary spasm; epicardial and microvascular spasm; ethnic differences; sex differences.

Publication types

Review