Dr. Matthew Barrett

So we underappreciate the impact of heart disease on females.

But again, as I said, it is the number one killer at every age group for women.

The other thing that we as a medical profession have to be aware of is that we also have our own biases.

So a woman who goes in to visit their GP, see a doctor, the emergency department, complaining of symptoms that could be potentially in the case of cardiovascular heart disease, they're often not identified or picked up because brains aren't as well switched on to being aware that heart disease is a risk in this population.

Not only that, but women tend to present slightly differently in terms of symptoms.

So we think of somebody having a heart attack as a typical clutching in the middle of your chest, pain going up to your jaw, going down your arm.

That's all very...

we think about that as how a heart attack presents, but actually women can come in quite differently.

Sometimes they come in with breathlessness, low energy, nausea, dizziness, palpitations.

So again, sometimes we're just not clued into treating or identifying heart disease in women because classically they just have been under-recognized.

So really there's a big push now to ensure that we're keeping that level of suspicion for heart disease in women because again, it is the number one killer.

And

there are certain conditions that affect women specifically, which again will increase their risk.

So in addition to your usual risk factors, as we call them, women who have had issues with things like blood pressure during pregnancy, diabetes during pregnancy, preeclampsia, even when these conditions fully resolve after the pregnancy is over, those women are going to get higher risk of heart disease going forward.

So it's really important that we don't sort of drop the ball or forget about these patients, that we're indicating if they've had those issues during pregnancy, that later on in life,

they are more likely to run into troubles.

So we're keeping that high index of suspicion and making sure they're getting all the treatments that, for example, a man with the same conditions would have had.

So again, blood pressure treatment, medication for cholesterol, et cetera, and being aware that it's something we really need to be cautious about as they get older.