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Cardiovascular Disease and the Female Disadvantage

Author

Listed:
  • Mark Woodward

    (The George Institute for Global Health, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 2BQ, UK
    The George Institute for Global Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2050, Australia
    Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA)

Abstract

Age-standardised rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD) are substantially higher in men than women. This explains why CVD has traditionally been seen as a “man’s problem”. However, CVD is the leading cause of death in women, worldwide, and is one of the most common causes of disability-adjusted life-years lost. In general, this is under-recognised and, in several ways, women are disadvantaged in terms of CVD. Both in primary and secondary prevention, there is evidence that women are undertreated, compared to men. Women often experience heart disease in a different way compared to men, and lack of recognition of this has been shown to have adverse consequences. Female patients of male cardiac physicians have been found to have worse outcomes than their male counterparts, with no such gender differential for female cardiologists. Clinical trials in CVD primarily recruit male patients, yet, it is well recognised that some drugs act differently in women and men. Diabetes and smoking, and perhaps other risk factors, confer a greater proportional excess cardiovascular risk to women than to men, whilst adverse pregnancies and factors concerned with the female reproductive cycle give women added vulnerability to CVD. However, women’s health research is skewed towards mother and child health, an area where, arguably, the greatest public health gains have already been made, and breast cancer. Hence there is a need to redefine what is meant by “women’s health” to encompass the whole lifecycle, with a stronger emphasis on CVD and other non-communicable diseases. Sex-specific analyses of research data should be the norm, whenever feasible.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Woodward, 2019. "Cardiovascular Disease and the Female Disadvantage," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-13, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:7:p:1165-:d:218845
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    Cited by:

    1. Leandro dos Santos & Alex S. Ribeiro & João Pedro Nunes & Crisieli M. Tomeleri & Hellen C. G. Nabuco & Matheus A. Nascimento & Paulo Sugihara Junior & Rodrigo R. Fernandes & Francesco Campa & Stefania, 2020. "Effects of Pyramid Resistance-Training System with Different Repetition Zones on Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Older Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-10, August.
    2. Andrea Higuera-Gómez & Rosa Ribot-Rodríguez & Victor Micó & Amanda Cuevas-Sierra & Rodrigo San Cristóbal & Jose Alfredo Martínez, 2022. "Lifestyle and Health-Related Quality of Life Relationships Concerning Metabolic Disease Phenotypes on the Nutrimdea Online Cohort," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-19, December.
    3. Brint, Steven & Frey, Komi, 2023. "Is the University of California Drifting Toward Conformism? The Challenges of Representation and the Climate for Academic Freedom," University of California at Berkeley, Center for Studies in Higher Education qt3pt9m168, Center for Studies in Higher Education, UC Berkeley.

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