Doctors and scientists say thousands of women around the world are dying from heart disease because of the misconception that it is a “men’s disease”.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the “leading cause of death” for women, but despite major advances in its medical management, many women die “unnecessarily” due to inadequate diagnosis, treatment and small numbers of people in clinical trials, experts said.
The consensus statement, developed by 33 leading healthcare professionals affiliated with the British Cardiovascular Society, aimed to address the unmet needs of women with CVD in the UK and globally, ensuring equity in care and improving health outcomes.
Among other things, the report called for the creation of dedicated women’s heart advocates and heart hubs to prevent “unnecessary deaths” from an essentially preventable disease.
Traditional risk factors such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol are often not treated as quickly and appropriately in women as in men, despite accounting for around half of all preventable cardiovascular disease deaths, according to the statement.
Women also face unique cultural, social and economic challenges that increase their risk of heart disease, the report said. Moreover, women’s biology, physiology and body morphology influence not only their risk of CVD, but also the effectiveness of diagnostic procedures and treatments, the report added.
Health professionals and the public have mistakenly believed that women are at lower risk of CVD than men. “Myths and unconscious biases in clinical practice and social perceptions further obscure the reality that heart disease does not discriminate along gender lines,” the statement said.
The report added that too often women’s voices are not heard and their cardiac symptoms are not taken seriously enough.
“Globally, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in women, yet the misconception that it is a ‘man’s disease’ highlights how CVD in women remains under-recognized and under-treated,” a consensus statement published in the medical journal Heart said.
“More than 3.6 million women in the UK currently live with ischaemic heart disease and one in 14 will die from the disease.”
Experts said there were “disparities” between men and women when it came to diagnosis and treatment, with women less likely to receive certain treatments and diagnostic tests.
Women are also “often underreferred to treatment, leading to poorer outcomes,” the researchers added. The statement also highlighted that women are “underrepresented” in clinical research on CVD.
Professor Vijay Kunadian, lead author of the statement, said: “Heart disease, and particularly coronary artery disease, is the number one cause of death for women in the UK and around the world, yet to this day its symptoms are often ignored or ignored. [women are] Patients may have had heart problems but are being told there is nothing wrong with them or are being given alternative treatments.”
“Year after year, a global database has shown that women are not getting adequate treatment and their mortality rates after heart attacks are rising. We can no longer ignore this. It’s time to do something about it.”
“Lives could be saved if these women received the right treatment,” Knadian said. “Lives are being lost unnecessarily.”
“People assume it’s a man’s disease because if a man reports it, they’re more likely to get an ambulance or a doctor to respond, for example,” she added. “So we need to change people’s perspective and get people to think that this is a woman’s disease too.”
In the UK, the Department of Health and Social Care has vowed to prioritise women’s health, which had been neglected by the previous government.
