Five reasons to focus on women’s heart health

Blog: Friday 31 October 2025

Key challenges faced by women that affect diagnosis

Although the rates of cardiovascular disease have decreased greatly over time, it remains the cause of about a quarter of deaths in Australia. It is clear from this that heart health is important for everyone, so why should we focus on women’s heart health?

1. To raise awareness of women-specific risk factors and heart conditions that more commonly affect women

By now you probably know that there are a number of ‘traditional’ heart disease risk factors that affect everybody – like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, poor diet, and physical inactivity. But did you know that there are also a number of risk factors that are unique to women? Some examples of these are:

• Premature menopause – estrogen is cardioprotective, which means it helps to protect your heart and blood vessels. As levels of estrogen decrease during menopause, so does the protection it gives.
• Early or late menarche (onset of menstruation) – how this happens isn’t known, but both have been linked to increased risk of cardiovascular diseases.
• Pregnancy conditions, pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes – both of these conditions cause damage to blood vessels that persists even after the baby is born.
• Endometriosis – chronic inflammation from endometriosis may make the walls of blood vessels stiffer.
• Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) – decreased insulin sensitivity and increased triglycerides and LDL-C (‘bad’ cholesterol) during PCOS can impair blood vessels and make plaques more likely to build up in them.

Additionally, some of the risk factors that are experienced by both men and women increase the risk of cardiovascular disease disproportionately more in women. For example, the increased cardiovascular risk from smoking is 25% higher and diabetes is nearly 50% higher in women than in men. There are also heart conditions that affect women more commonly than men, like spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD). This most commonly affects women in their 40s and 50s and has symptoms similar to a heart attack. It is a medical emergency that happens when a tear forms in one of the arteries supplying the heart with blood and oxygen.

2. To bust the pop culture myth – heart disease is a women’s disease too

You have probably seen a movie or TV show depicting someone having a heart attack. They will suddenly clutch at their chest and collapse in pain. What you might not have noticed is that these ‘Hollywood heart attacks’ you see on the screen are usually happening to a man. That’s the myth we want to bust! Heart attacks happen to both men and women, and when they do, the most common symptom for both sexes is chest pain. But women can also experience other, less well-known signs of a heart attack. We want all women to be aware of the warning signs of a heart attack, and to not dismiss any unusual symptoms.

3. To address the gender bias in diagnosis and treatment

Even though men have more heart attacks than women, women are more likely to die from a heart attack or develop other conditions as a result such as heart failure or stroke.

Why is this you might ask…

It is partly to do with women being more likely to be discharged without diagnosis of a heart attack or misdiagnosed with a non-heart-related condition. But also, even when women are diagnosed with a heart attack, they are more likely to experience delays in their treatment.

This happens for a variety of different reasons. Many of the tools that a doctor uses to diagnose heart conditions don’t have the features to consider the women-specific risk factors discussed above. There is also sometimes a lack of education for healthcare providers about the less common symptoms of heart attack reported by women. This means that raising awareness of heart conditions in women could improve their outcomes.

4. To make sure all eligible women get a Heart Health Check

The average age of menopause for women in Australia is 51. So as mentioned previously, from this age a woman’s risk of developing cardiovascular disease begins to increase. This is why 45 years is a great age for women (and men!) to be eligible for an annual Heart Health Check with their GP. First Nations Peoples are eligible from age 30. However, women should see their GP earlier if they have a family history of heart disease or high cholesterol, or if they have any of the women-specific risk factors for heart disease.

A Heart Health Check is a 20-minute check-up with your GP to work out your risk of a heart attack or stroke in the next five years. As part of the Check, which is subsidised by Medicare, your GP will discuss what you can do to manage your risk, whether that’s getting more physical activity or following a heart-healthy eating pattern.

5. To support women to participate in heart disease research

It’s no surprise that the best way to understand how heart disease affects women is to conduct research involving (you guessed it) …women! Traditionally, women were excluded from research, and the findings from research trials in men were just applied to women. While things have improved in recent years, barriers still exist to women participating in research.

Ways to help break down these barriers include:

• ensuring women know about heart disease research studies and how to get involved
• making it easier for women to participate, recognising they often need to juggle multiple commitments including family, childcare, work and travel
• addressing any concerns about getting involved, like possible medicine side effects

• busting the myth that only very unwell people are eligible to participate in research.

If you’d like to know more about getting involved in research and current opportunities, visit the Australian Clinical Trials website. You’ll find over 600 heart health trials that are currently in need of participants! You could help researchers make new discoveries about everything from how different types of exercise affect blood vessels, to improving information given to people in hospital after a heart attack.