At-risk wait for heart treatment

CARDIOVASCULAR disease is the biggest killer of Australian women, yet a study has found women are waiting longer than men for a lifesaving heart valve treatment.

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation helps to improve a damaged aortic valve, but with an ageing population they are in high demand.

Researchers say unconscious gender bias may also be playing a role in women waiting longer.

The study team, led by cardiologist Julia Stehli, from Monash University’s School of Clinical Sciences and Monash Health, found waiting times for a lifesaving TAVI were significantly longer in women compared with men.

Dr Stehli said the team suspected some doctors perceived women to be at lower risk. Another possibility was that women may take longer to accept a date for the procedure because of other responsibilities, she said.

Dr Stehli said there were even greater wait times for women during Covid, but that this may have been because of limited childcare availability and because women traditionally put the care and needs of others ahead of their own.

The Monash University-led study warned waiting longer for a TAVI could lead to more deaths, hospitalisations and decreased mobility.

“TAVI has revolutionised how we treat a common heart condition,” study co-author Tony Walton said.

The head of the Structural Heart Program at The Alfred, Associate Professor Walton said: “Some women tend to think they don’t have anything wrong and they present later; we still don’t really understand why,” he says

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, about half a million women have cardiovascular disease and there are more than 100 acute coronary events in women reported daily.