While this study raises the alarm among health officials and women alike, one which likely should have been raised earlier, the authors didn’t say their study was definitive.
They added: “The burden of CAD-related mortality falls heavily on Black and Brown people, particularly women. Yet their limited representation in genomics research continues to deny them potential benefits of such research.”
As to why it has taken this long to identify a difference in risk factors for men and women, Professor Duggan said this was because when tests for heart disease were developed, gender was not taken into account.
Professor Duggan said: “Because of this disparity, women are more likely than men to report heart disease symptoms that appear out of the norm, experience delayed treatment for heart disease and even have undiagnosed heart attacks. For reasons that remain uncertain, women can experience heart disease differently than men. This can lead to inequities for women that need to be addressed.”