Gender and Social Inequalities in Awareness of Coronary Artery Disease in European Countries

Abstract

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the single leading cause of death in Europe and the most common form of cardiovascular disease. Little is known about awareness in the European population. A cross-sectional telephone survey of 2609 individuals from six European countries was conducted to gather information on perceptions of CAD, risk factors, preventive measures, knowledge of heart attack symptoms and ability to seek emergency medical care. Level of awareness was compared according to gender, age, socioeconomic status (SES) and educational level. Women were approximately five times less likely than men to consider heart disease as a main health issue or leading cause of death (OR = 0.224, 95% CI: 0.178–0.280, OR = 0.196, 95% CI: 0.171–0.226). Additionally, women were significantly less likely to have ever had a cardiovascular screening test (OR = 0.515, 95% CI: 0.459–0.578). Only 16.3% of men and 15.3% of women were able to spontaneously identify the main symptoms of a heart attack. Almost half of the sample failed to state that they would call emergency services in case of a cardiac event. Significant differences according to age, SES and education were found for many indicators amongst both men and women. Development of a European strategy targeting improved awareness of CAD and reduced gender and social inequalities within the European population is warranted.

Gender Differences in Knowledge and Perception of Cardiovascular Disease among Italian Thalassemia Major Patients

“…Awareness of CVDs as the major future health issue was significantly lower amongst female patients. Our finding is in line with that of a recent cross-sectional telephone survey involving 2609 individuals without chronic diseases from six European countries [40]. In general, women attribute much less importance to heart disease than it warrants.…”

“…The educational level did not emerge as a major determinant of knowledge of cardiovascular disease risk. Conversely, different studies conducted on the general population demonstrated a strong association between higher education and better health literacy [21,40]. The most likely explanation of our finding is that among the TM population, the frequent doctor-patient encounters represent the most important source of medical information, compensating for education-induced biases.…”

Sex‐specific and hormone‐related differences in vascular remodelling in atherosclerosis

“…111,112 Yet, women are five times less likely to have a diagnosis considering heart disease as the main health issue or leading cause of death and they are significantly less likely to have ever received a cardiovascular screening test as well. 113 Hence, diagnostic and treatment inequalities between men and women need to be urgently improved.…”

“…Of note, even though men develop CVD earlier in life, women catch up after menopause and therefore the lifetime risk of CVD is similar for both men and women if estimated for a total life span 111,112 . Yet, women are five times less likely to have a diagnosis considering heart disease as the main health issue or leading cause of death and they are significantly less likely to have ever received a cardiovascular screening test as well 113 . Hence, diagnostic and treatment inequalities between men and women need to be urgently improved.…”

Using Multi-Task Learning-Based Framework to Detect ST-Segment and J-Point Deviation From Holter

“…There are two points that cannot be ignored. The awareness rate of IHD risks is lower than the prevalence rate ( Garrido et al, 2020 ; Daponte-Codina et al, 2022 ), and the difficulty in treating ischemia comes from poor regeneration of cardiomyocytes after IHD and myocardial infarction (MI). Although the myocardium of the patients with chronic coronary syndrome has been damaged, the tolerance of myocardial cells to ischemia increases due to the formation of coronary collateral circulation.…”