Associate Professor Sarah Zaman
Westmead Hospital and University of Sydney
Heart disease in women has been historically under-recognised and under-treated, and it is only recently that the myriad of sex and gender differences have come to light. Traditionally considered a male disease, coronary heart disease and heart attacks are the number one killer of Australian women. Yet women and their health providers have low awareness of their risk, with ongoing delays to hospital presentation and treatment. Female-specific cardiovascular risk factors have been identified, such as pre-eclampsia, premature menopause and gestational diabetes, each conferring an independently higher chance of developing heart disease. Heart attacks in women have unique characteristics compared to men, including differences in symptom onset, the artery involved and the presence of uncommon, female-dominant non-atherosclerotic causes. Heart failure and cardiac arrhythmia manifest differently according to sex, for instance, women have higher proportions of diastolic heart failure and lower sudden cardiac death. All of this will be explored.