Should Heart Disease in Women Have a Different Name?

Well an interesting article about the differences in heart disease by gender was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The authors suggest that in women heart disease should be called ‘Ischemic Heart Disease’ vs. Coronary Artery Disease or Coronary Heart Disease in men. This is based on evidence suggesting the pathology most common in women is different than that in men. I like the idea of that.

However doing this also has implications for measurement and research in heart disease epidemiology. It is not clear whether this will add to ambiguity in the field or whether it will be a more specific way to identify the disease. Offhand I think that there would need to be very specific criteria by which the actual pathology of the disease is diagnosed, regardless of gender. It is fine if IHD is more often diagnosed in women because it is what actually happens physiologically. On the other hand, I disagree with the different diagnosis being applied simply because it is a woman with symptoms.

I think I need to more carefully review that article to understand what is really being suggested!

See the article, “Women and Ischemic Heart Disease” by Shaw, Bugiardini, & Bairey Merz: http://content.onlinejacc.org/cgi/content/abstract/54/17/1561
[J Am Coll Cardiol, 2009; 54:1561-1575, doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2009.04.098]