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