Heart Care Info - Heart Disease Prevention & Treatment

Women's heart health: the focus of this issue

J Fricker - European Heart Journal, 2011 - Eur Soc Cardiology'It's very important that physicians are aware that coronary artery disease (CAD) is a frequent disease among women, that gets more common as they get older', said Prof. Thomas F. Lscher, editor of the EHJ, adding that women themselves often underestimate the ...

‘It's very important that physicians are aware that coronary artery disease (CAD) is a frequent disease among women, that gets more common as they get older', said Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher, editor of the EHJ, adding that women themselves often underestimate the importance of CAD. They are much more concerned by breast cancer, a disease that is responsible for only 3% of female deaths (about 1 in 35 women in the USA).

Two studies published in this month's themed issue raise particular concerns that women are being prescribed fewer drugs than men. ‘We were shocked to find that even after infarction—the most dramatic CV situation we have—there's still a considerable underutilisation of drugs in women', said Lüscher.

In the first study, cardiologists from the University of Bologna (Bologna, Italy), and the University of Toronto (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), analysed the medical details of 4471 men and 2087 women who had experienced an acute coronary syndrome between 1999 and 2003. The details (which included 23 clinical variables) were recorded on the Canadian Registry of ACS I and II. Results of the study, led by Prof. Raffaele Bugiardini from the University of Bologna (Italy), show that women were statistically less likely to receive β-blockers, lipid-modifying agents, and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors than men.