Cardiovascular Disease: Women Face a Treatment Disparity Despite Progress, Study Finds

Conventional
cardiovascular disease risk factors, such as high blood pressure and high
cholesterol, are often not treated as promptly or as appropriately as they are
in men, despite accounting for around half of all preventable cardiovascular
disease deaths, says the statement.

Healthcare
professionals and the public mistakenly believe that women’s risk of
cardiovascular disease is lower than men’s, says the statement. “Myths and
unconscious biases within clinical practices and societal perceptions further
obscure the reality that heart disease does not discriminate by sex,” it says.

And all too often
women’s voices are unheard and their heart symptoms aren’t taken seriously
enough, it adds.

The statement sets out
a series of actions for clinicians and their professional bodies in each of the
major cardiovascular disease areas.

These include:

• Raising awareness of traditional and
  women-specific risk factors for all types of cardiovascular disease
• Ensuring that women are included in
  cardiovascular disease research
• Making sure that the public and
  clinicians know that coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death
  for women
• Ensuring equitable access to
  specialist cardiac care, genetic testing, and family screening for women
  with inherited heart disease
• Addressing the under-representation
  of women in clinical trials of new cancer immunotherapy treatments
• Setting up registries to monitor
  cardiac toxicity as a result of cancer chemotherapy for everyone, and
  specifically for women
• Enhancing women’s participation in
  cardiac rehabilitation programmes by offering flexible hybrid/virtual
  options
• Increasing clinician awareness of
  the strengths and limitations of each diagnostic method in women with
  confirmed or suspected cardiovascular disease
• Making women’s cardiovascular
  disease health ‘everyone’s responsibility’ by including this in primary
  care clinicians’ contractual obligations
• Leveraging influence to highlight
  and address sex biases in healthcare

Patients and those
advocating on their behalf also have a role in advancing women’s cardiovascular
disease care, says the statement.

For example, they
should:

• Call for a holistic woman-centred
  approach to heart care that incorporates women’s experiences and insights
• They should engage the media, among
  others, to raise awareness about the importance of cardiovascular health
  for women.
• Tailor information to the unique
  needs of women
• Highlight heart conditions that
  predominantly or exclusively affect women
• Co-design training for healthcare
  professionals to become more attuned to women’s specific needs

The statement also
calls for the establishment of women’s heart champions to offer peer to peer
support and dedicated women’s heart hubs to check on conventional risk factors,
such as blood pressure, cholesterol, and weight, and provide lifestyle advice on
diet and exercise. And a dedicated women’s health strategy should be created,
it suggests.

Reference: Tayal U, Pompei G, Wilkinson I, et al Advancing the access to cardiovascular diagnosis and treatment among women with cardiovascular disease: a joint British Cardiovascular Societies’ consensus document Heart Published Online First: 24 September 2024. doi: 10.1136/heartjnl-2024-324625