‘It was my heart’: Women with heart disease face barriers to care in Canada, report says – GLOBAL

February 1, 2023

Heart attacks and strokes are the leading cause of premature death for women in Canada, yet little progress has been made to address systemic inequities in how these conditions are diagnosed and treated.

That’s according to a new report titled System Failure released Wednesday from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, which identifies alarming gaps in diagnostics, care and even basic understanding of risk factors and symptoms that exist for women with heart and brain disease in Canada.

Half of women who experience a heart attack have their symptoms go unrecognized because health workers and patients alike are often unaware that men experience symptoms differently than women, the report says.

“Heart disease for the longest time has been on decline in men and it’s been static or even in some groups, in young women in particular, on the rise,” says Dr. Tara Sedlak, a cardiologist based in Vancouver.

Read more: https://globalnews.ca/news/9449555/women-heart-health-barriers-inequities-report/