Women who suffer a type of severe heart attack were less likely than men to survive the first 24 hours in a hospital, a new study has found.

Female heart attack patients overall were less likely to receive timely treatment with aspirin or certain heart drugs, therapy to restore blood flow, or angioplasty to open blocked arteries, the authors also reported.

The study appears in today’s issue of the medical journal Circulation, which is published by the American Heart Association.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles and elsewhere reviewed data on treatments and outcomes from more than 78,000 patients admitted to 420 hospitals between 2001 and 2006. The data were gathered by hospitals using an online tool to track patient care.