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Women suffer from male stereotypes of heart disease

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the most common cause of premature death in women, accounting for almost 6,000 deaths in women under 65 every year, yet is still seen as predominantly a male disease, says a new report.

While women are generally at lower risk of the disease than men, mortality rates from CHD in women in the UK are among the highest in the world. Within the UK, the rates are higher in Scotland and Northern Ireland than in England and Wales, and cause one in four of all deaths in women.

Yet despite its importance, neither health care professionals nor women themselves are sufficiently aware of the risk of CHD in women, according to the National Forum for Coronary Heart Disease Prevention in its latest report Coronary heart disease: are women special?

The report points to research evidence which shows that CHD in women tends to be diagnosed later than in men, and that women with confirmed CHD are less likely than men to be referred for further diagnostic testing and cardiac surgery, though there is no evidence that women are less likely to benefit from such treatment than men.

Health promotion messages and primary preventive services do little to counter the stereotype of the male heart attack victim, according to Imogen Sharp, director of the forum.

”Rarely does health education on CHD show women as victims”, she says. “Women have generally either been ignored all together, or have been targeted as a means of influencing their partner’s risk of CHD, for example by influencing diet.”

The forum is calling for a national programme of education to improve women’s awareness of their risk of CHD, along with training for health professionals and a new emphasis on women in medical and nurse education.

It is also concerned at evidence that girls are now more likely to smoke than boys, and that once having started find it more difficult to give up. New women-centred strategies to tackle smoking, especially among low income women, are urgently needed and the report calls for action by national and European government, including a ban on tobacco advertising. The forum identifies tobacco advertising in women’s magazines, which frequently contain positive images of smokers in their fashion pages, as a pressing concern.

It also calls on health authorities, and in particular directors of public health, to audit clinical activity and find out whether women are getting access to diagnostic and treatment facilities on a par with men.

Coronary heart disease: are women special? National Forum for Coronary Heart Disease Prevention, Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9TX.