Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in America, accounting for more than one in five deaths and 50,000 deaths in Black women annually. Still, far too few women realize the danger.
In fact, “Awareness of heart disease as the leading cause of death among women actually declined from 2009 to 2019,” Dr. Dipti Itchhaporia, president of the American College of Cardiology (ACC), said during a HealthDay Now interview. “We’ve done so many educational efforts over the past decade and still less than 50% of women recognize that heart disease is the number one killer.”
It’s also not widely known that women differ from men in the structure of their hearts, the types of heart problems they have, the risk factors for heart disease they carry, and even the symptoms they experience during a heart attack, experts say.
“I had a patient with jaw pain,” says HealthDay Now medical correspondent Dr. Robin Miller. “She went to the dentist twice before she came to see me, and she was in the midst of having a heart attack.”
Much of the problem stems from the fact that cardiology has long been a male-dominated field, says Itchhaporia, who is an interventional cardiologist with Hoag Heart and Vascular Institute in Newport Beach, Calif.
“I think women may not even think of cardiology,” Itchhaporia said of female doctors. “Women have different perceptions of cardiology than men, and they have different goals that could influence their choice.”
Female cardiologists are more likely to report sex discrimination, but it goes beyond that, Itchhaporia shares. Women in medicine tend to choose fields that allow for long-term patient relationships, as well as a more family-oriented lifestyle.
Unfortunately, that lack of female perspective in cardiology has caused research into heart disease to be largely focused on men, Itchhaporia notes.
A recent study found that clinical trials led by a female doctor tended to have more women participating in them — 45%, compared with 38% when a man is in charge of the study, Itchhaporia says.
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Not just smaller versions of male hearts
“Generalization of trial results may be inaccurate if the studies are only comprised of men. And so I think improving representation of women in trials yields more real-time, real-life results that reflect the broader patient population,” Itchhaporia says.
“The bottom line is preventing and treating heart disease requires a