I have been thinking of writing and videoing about women and the heart for a little while, and a patient I saw this week has prompted me to do so today. She had symptoms that were not necessarily typical for a heart problem and had struggled to get a diagnosis, but when we ran some tests, it turned out she did indeed have a cardiac diagnosis, and now we can start appropriate treatment. I can’t help but think if she were male things may have been different, and in fact there is a lot of research showing this to be the case.
If you are male, you may of course be wondering if this is relevant to you. I hope as a minimum however you find it interesting, but even better if you can take the learning and share it with your female family and friends.
Why is this important? There is a definite gender gap when it comes to heart health, and it is evident in many areas. I discuss these in this week’s video, and they include:
- Underrepresentation of women in heart research trials
- Longer time to diagnosis
- 50% higher chance of an incorrect diagnosis of heart attack
- Lower uptake of heart medication
- Less access to diagnostic tests
- Less women training in cardiology
- Less understanding of potential heart symptoms in women
I do not think the disparity is any one person or organisation’s fault, but is probably a reflection of wider unconscious bias. By raising awareness hopefully we can start to combat the problem. I would love to think by the time my daughter is an adult she lives in a world where her heart health will not be disadvantaged by her gender.
Women with the same risk factors as men actually often have a higher chance of developing a heart attack. They are also less likely to present for health checks, and less likely to manage their risk factors properly, particularly after they have had a heart attack. Women with a history of pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes during pregnancy have double the risk of coronary heart disease later in life.
It is estimated that 7 million women in the UK have high blood pressure, with nearly 2.5 million undiagnosed.
If you haven’t had your blood pressure measured in the last 6 months – please do it this week, whatever your gender!
There are nearly 2 million women with diabetes in the UK, have you had a diabetes check?
Nearly half of all women have a cholesterol above the recommended guidelines! When was yours last checked?
All these statistics tell us that women are likely to hugely underestimate their own personal risk of heart disease. I am a huge believer in preventative medicine, and step one is to recognise there may be an issue.