Claudio Tinoco Mesquita et al. Aline Goneli de Lacerda
According to the recently published “Cardiovascular Statistics – Brazil 2020”, mortality from cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is proportionally higher in women compared to men. The INTERHEART study demonstrated that the population attributable risk for myocardial infarction associated with modifiable risk factors of smoking, alcohol use, high-risk diet, and physical inactivity, was significantly higher among women than men. Evidence from the VIRGO study (Variation in Recovery: Role of Gender on Outcomes of Young Acute Myocardial Infarction [AMI] Patients) indicates that both health professionals and women are unaware or neglect the development of cardiovascular heart disease (CHD) and the presence of cardiovascular risk factors in women.
Women are underrepresented in cardiovascular disease trials despite known sex differences across a broad range of risk, prevention, treatment, and outcome parameters. Gender influences many aspects of disease like its pathophysiology and clinical presentation, response to treatment, clinicians’ behavior, and access to health care, , and now it is clear that research must consider this to promote better diagnosis and treatment, and gender equity in health care.
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