For decades, women’s hearts have been misunderstood, misdiagnosed, and marginalized in cardiovascular research. Heart disease kills more Canadian women than any other condition, yet women remain 50% more likely than men to receive an incorrect initial diagnosis after a heart attack. The signs don’t always match what we’ve been taught to expect—no dramatic chest-clutching, just persistent fatigue, jaw pain, or breathlessness that gets dismissed as stress or anxiety.
This knowledge gap isn’t accidental. Until the 1990s, most heart disease research excluded women entirely, leaving physicians with treatment protocols designed …