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study shows cardiovascular disparities in gender
both the united states and europe have established guidelines on cardiovascular disease prevention in women, but canada doesn't.
feb 19 2020
1 minute read
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a new paper published by heart and stroke and the canadian women’s heart health alliance (cwhha) is the first canadian perspective on cardiovascular science and disease authored by over 30 experts from across the country.
‘state of the science in women’s cardiovascular disease: a canadian perspective on the influence of sex and gender’ partly compares the guidelines for women’s cardiovascular disease in the united states, europe and canada. the us has published several and provided an update as recently as 2018. europe has sex-specific recommendations in their 2016 european guidelines on cardiovascular disease prevention in clinical practice. canada has none.
“there’s a stunning lack of research and awareness,” says dr. cindy yip, director of the data, knowledge management and heart program at heart and stroke. “it has accumulated to this year where we’re lacking the basic tools. it’s a box with no hammer, no nails and no screwdriver.”
while cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of premature death for canadian women, the study reveals that the top three most deadly cardiovascular diseases are coronary heart disease, stroke and heart failure.
the study mentions sex-specific risk factors like early on-set menstruation, but these remain unexplained.
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in 2018, the canadian cardiovascular society led an initiative to determine the feasibility of establishing sex and gender guidelines, specifically to manage st-segment–elevation myocardial infarction (stemi) in short-term care.
“… inadequate enrolment and reporting by sex hindered a comprehensive assessment of the quality of evidence and strength of recommendations,” reads the paper. part of eliminating the research and guideline disparity is to increase resources, something yip says should be the next major step.
“the next step is to support more research and to encourage more women to participate in clinical trials so we can generate evidence that can change the clinical process and best practices,” says yip. “less than one-third of clinical trials include women. part of this barrier is that women are not aware that they need to be part of it.”
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