Ep66: Gendered Medicine—Heart Disease

We traditionally think of cardiovascular disease as a man’s problem, but it’s the leading cause of death for women as well as men in most of the industrialized world. Despite great advances in the management of heart disease in recent years, women are still not getting the same quality of care as men. Readmissions and mortality following an acute myocardial infarction at least two times higher in women as they are in men.  Put simply, cardiovascular disease is better understood in men, the presentations and diagnosis occur more promptly, and therapies are more consistently delivered to male patients. In this episode we explore the subtle biases at every stage that nudge male and female patients down different health pathways and result in gendered health outcomes. Guest Associate Professor Sarah Zaman FRACP (Westmead Hospital, University of Sydney)Production Written and produced by Mic Cavazzini DPhil. Music licenced from Epidemic Sound includes ‘Dew’ and ‘Vargtimmen’ by Da Sein, ‘Spring’ by Cora Zea, ‘Missing Memories’ by Christopher Moe Ditlevsen and ‘Feels Like I’m Going Crazy’ by Tigeblood Jewel. Image licenced from Getty Images. Editorial feedback for this episode was kindly provided by physicians of the RACP’s Podcast Editorial Group; Sern Wei Yeoh, Joseph Lee, Phillipa Wormald, Rhiannon Mellor,  Seema Radhakrishnan, Atif Mohd Slim and Li-Sza Tan. Please visit the RACP website for a transcript embedded with citations. Fellows of the College can claim CPD credits for listening and additional reading.