Heart health experts' session to focus on continuing cardiac care gender gap

Feb 13 — Wear Red Canada Day — marks the sixth annual day devoted to raising awareness about women’s heart health.

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Published Feb 10, 2024 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 2 minute read

“Women’s heart health in Canada remains a pressing concern due to inadequate levels of awareness, diagnosis, treatment, research, and support,” says Dr. Kerri-Anne Mullen, a scientist and director of the Canadian Women’s Heart Health Centre at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. Photo by Jean Levac /POSTMEDIA

On a day devoted to raising awareness about women’s heart health, experts will gather to emphasize there is still work to be done to close the gender gap in research, care and awareness.

On Tuesday, members of the Canadian Women’s Heart Health Alliance will talk about the state of women’s cardiovascular health in Canada and what needs to be done to achieve equitable care during a livestream webinar. Feb 13 — Wear Red Canada Day — marks the sixth annual day devoted to raising awareness about women’s heart health.

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“Women’s heart health in Canada remains a pressing concern due to inadequate levels of awareness, diagnosis, treatment, research, and support,” said Dr. Kerri-Anne Mullen, a scientist and director of the Canadian Women’s Heart Health Centre at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of premature death in Canadian women, yet women’s heart health remains relatively understudied and is still misunderstood by many.

Tuesday’s session will highlight existing education and research on cardiovascular disease in Canadian women, where gaps exist and make recommendations, among other things. It will mark the final chapter in an atlas looking at cardiovascular disease in Canadian women put together by physicians, researchers and women with lived experience, among others.

Among messages of the session will be that women’s heart health must be made a priority in research in order to improve understanding and care of women, Mullen said.

“Historically 70 per cent of research on heart and vascular diseases has been done on men,” she said. There are numerous calls for increased funding to support more research on women and cardiovascular disease, she added.

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A stronger focus on research is among the recommendations aimed at ensuring equitable care for women with cardiovascular disease in Canada.

Mullen said the health system should also include a focus on cardiovascular disease in post-partum care. For example, women who have adverse pregnancy conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes are known to have higher risks of developing premature heart and vascular diseases, and yet there is no standard for assessing women for these risk factors after delivery. Not all health providers are even aware of the increased risk for their patients. Mullen said one report found that fewer than half of the women who were identified as being high risk for premature cardiovascular disease after pregnancy were referred for further assessments.

Although there has been a focus on women’s cardiovascular health for years, with improvements in research and elsewhere, Mullen says gaps remain in the understanding of heart disease in women and the care they receive compared to men.

“It is important for health providers and the general public to be reminded of the differences and disparities that exist,” she said.

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Women generally develop heart disease later in life than men, their symptoms can be different — frequently less specific and including back and stomach ache as well as angina and other symptoms — and some risk factors can also be different.

More information is available online at heartandstroke.ca.

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