oa Blinde vlekken in zorg voor het vrouwenhart

Cardiology has long been considered as a man’s disease and the discipline has been developed with the male patient as the common standard. In the past 25 years, technical developments have revealed that distinct female patterns of ischemic heart disease and heart failure exist that require a different diagnostic and therapeutic approach compared to the male patient. Although our knowledge has enormously increased and cardiovascular disease in women is now number the number one cause of death worldwide, clinical implementation into a more gender sensitive approach of patients is hampered by resistance within the male-dominated cardiology community. This currently results in less optimal treatment of female cardiac patients. This paper will describe the historical perspective and look forward to the steps that that are needed to improve every day cardiology care for female patients.