If American medical sitcoms have taught us anything, it is that female biology is far different from men’s. From mental disorders to cardiovascular conditions, females show different symptoms and their course of treatment also differs. Yet this is not common knowledge. Even in the medical circle. 

According to a report published by Lancet Commissions, heart disease and stroke account for 35% of deaths in women worldwide. 

The study reports that cardiovascular diseases in women still remain understudied, under-recognized, underdiagnosed and undertreated. 

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Dr Gemma Martinez-Nadal recently co-authored a study conducted amongst medical professionals who failed to diagnose heart attacks in women. She states that this could be owing to a gender gap in the first evaluation of chest pain and the underestimation of diagnosing heart attacks in women. 

She further adds that this could also be owing to a low suspicion of heart attacks in both women themselves and in physicians that leads to late diagnoses and possible misdiagnosis. 

According to Dr Nadal, heart attacks are traditionally considered a male disease, hence there is less study in the gender-based data in cardiovascular diseases. 

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Due to the stereotype that women are more emotional than men hence the attributing symptoms in women are dismissed by calling it “exaggerated stress or anxiety”. 

Moreover, the majority of known symptoms of heart diseases are typically based on studies that focused on men. Since these symptoms manifest differently in women, hence they are dismissed by medical practitioners and treated differently.

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And it doesn’t end there. 

Women are also more likely to die within a year of having a heart attack. The heart-related medical procedures and clot-busting drugs just don’t bode well with female bodies.