Women negatively affected in heart care inequalities

A new British Heart Foundation report has claimed that inequalities in awareness, diagnosis and treatment of heart attacks are leading to women needlessly dying every day.

Research from the charity estimates that more than 8,200 women in England and Wales died over a ten-year period because they did not receive equal treatment to men. The British Heart Foundation claims that more lives are at risk as women are likely to delay seeking help when they experience heart attack symptoms.

As well as delaying seeking medical help, women are also 50 per cent more likely to receive a wrong initial diagnosis, and, over a ten year period, it is estimated that more than 8,200 heart attack deaths in women in England and Wales could have been prevented if they had received the same standard of care as men.

It says that  further research is needed to close the heart attack gender gap and will soon be convening policy makers and healthcare professionals next year about how to address the issues. This is part of an effort to end to the perception that heart attack is a male disease.

Sonya Babu-Narayan, Associate Medical Director at the BHF, said: “Heart attacks have never been more treatable. Yet women are dying needlessly because heart attacks are often seen as a man’s disease, and women don’t receive the same standard of treatment as men. The studies detailed in this briefing have revealed inequalities at every stage of a woman’s medical journey. The reasons for this are complex to dissect. Together, we must change this.”