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Identification of women with heart disease: a missed opportunity

Nature Clinical Practice Cardiovascular Medicine volume 3, pages 522–523 (2006)Cite this article

Heart disease should top the list of women's health concerns; unfortunately, it doesn't even come close. Many women have a disproportionate fear of breast cancer, and dutifully present for annual mammography while remaining oblivious to their risk of cardiovascular disease. Where is the demand by women and the medical community for an urgent agenda for heart disease in women?

Cardiovascular disease—that is coronary heart disease, stroke, and other heart and blood vessel diseases—has been the number one cause of mortality in women in the developed world for decades. In the US, cardiovascular disease has killed more women than men each year since 1984—approximately 250,000 women die annually from myocardial infarction (MI) alone—and over 6 million women are currently living with coronary heart disease.1 Women with heart disease have higher morbidity and mortality and are more likely to be misdiagnosed or diagnosed later in the course of their illness than men.2 Cardiovascular risk in women is systematically underestimated by physicians. Once diagnosed, women receive less-intensive therapy at all levels and are less likely than men to receive interventions for primary and secondary prevention.3 These documented, sex-based disparities in preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic interventions are at least partially responsible for the higher cardiovascular-related total mortality in women than in men.2,4

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Director of the Mayo Clinic Women's Heart Clinic,

    Sharonne N Hayes

  2. Associate Professor of Medicine and a consultant at the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases and Department of Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN, USA

    Sharonne N Hayes

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  1. Sharonne N Hayes
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Correspondence to Sharonne N Hayes.

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The author declares no competing financial interests.

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Hayes, S. Identification of women with heart disease: a missed opportunity. Nat Rev Cardiol 3, 522–523 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncpcardio0678

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