{"id":461710,"date":"2026-02-06T06:35:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T06:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/461710\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T06:35:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T06:35:15","slug":"which-heart-attacks-are-slipping-through-the-clinical-gaps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/461710\/","title":{"rendered":"Which heart attacks are slipping through the clinical gaps?"},"content":{"rendered":"

New international recommendations look at how to best address heart attacks in premenopausal women.<\/p>\n

The spotlight has been put on women\u2019s heart attack care globally after a\u00a0scientific statement<\/a>\u00a0from the American Heart Association (AHA) highlighted potential shortfalls in everyday practice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Heart disease\u00a0remains\u00a0the second leading cause of death in Australia, with the AHA statement revealing that premenopausal women are slipping through the cracks of GP diagnosis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the AHA, premenopausal woman face \u201csignificantly worse outcomes, including a higher likelihood of death or complications, compared to men of the same age\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Often, women do\u00a0not fit the traditional risk profile.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cToo many women are missing out on timely diagnosis and treatment for heart attacks because the system isn\u2019t designed to properly recognise these patients,\u201d director and CEO of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute\u00a0Professor Jason Kovacic said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need urgent action to close these gaps.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The AHA has outlined key priorities to address the gap including increased awareness of atypical presentation, higher representation of women in clinical trials, and more\u00a0accurate\u00a0diagnosis for premenopausal women.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Current guidelines are reported to lack critical detail for women with\u00a0particularly non\u2011atherosclerotic causes\u00a0along with cases not driven by typical risk factors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen confronted with a woman having an acute coronary syndrome or heart attack, it\u2019s really important that GPs\u00a0or physicians are really actively thinking about what the other possibilities could be,\u201d Professor Kovacic told\u00a0The Medical Republic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are\u00a0not perhaps, conditions\u00a0that a lot of GPs\u00a0will be familiar with, certainly managing that a lot of these conditions do require specialist centres to work through them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere should be a low threshold for referring on to the appropriate specialist to manage these patients.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Referral to specialists is the focus of Professor Kovacic\u2019s contribution to the proposed guidance, with arguments for improvements in emergency pathways\u00a0deemed\u00a0critical to closing care gaps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The AHA has also made calls for stronger follow-up care to address secondary risk factors in addition to issues linked to pregnancy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cardiac rehabilitation programs have been suggested to improve long-term health along with mental health support for those experience psychological issues after a heart attack.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to be thinking about this, and\u00a0these\u00a0people that\u00a0do suffer heart attacks\u00a0need to be aware of that,\u201d Professor Kovacic told\u00a0TMR.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0not just doctors and GPs,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0all of\u00a0our society, because the management of these patients\u00a0actually starts\u00a0in the community with the recognition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re\u00a0part of the whole chain.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the whole chain isn\u2019t actually working very well, because community recognition of these conditions and community appreciation that pre-menopausal\u00a0women do get heart attacks isn\u2019t very good, and that\u2019s what we need to change.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New international recommendations look at how to best address heart attacks in premenopausal women. The spotlight has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461711,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[64,63,63672,19820,137,4793],"class_list":["post-461710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cardio","tag-clinical","tag-health","tag-womens-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}