Cardiac Health Awareness Among Women Presenting for Routine Health Checkup at Tertiary Care Center: Time Trends Over 15 Years

Background Women have been thought to be protected against the perils of cardiovascular disease (CVD) till late in their lives. But the literature suggests quite the opposite with CVD being a major cause of death even in young women. In contrast, the lack of awareness among women is disheartening and needs to be addressed radically. Methods The study was designed and conducted as retrospective cohort at a tertiary care center. Data was collected from patients presenting for routine cardiac health checkup over the past 15 years. The parameters observed included age at presenting, symptoms and/or signs, plus area of residence or domicile. Results A total of 32,831 patients presented for routine cardiac health checkup, of which 9,211 (28.1%) patients were women and 23,620 (71.9%) were men. On 5 yearly cumulative assessment, the mean attendance of women was 28.1 ± 2.5% as compared with 71.9 ± 2.6% men. Trend observed over the past 15 years revealed little change in the number of women versus men presenting for cardiac health checkup annually. Statistical significance was seen at p < 0.01. Among the women presenting for the checkup, it was observed that most women were in the postmenopausal age group (42.8%), followed by perimenopausal age group (34.6%), and least in premenopausal age group (22.5%) during the timeline of the study. A similar trend was observed in the male attendance; the input of males being higher at all instances. Noteworthy were trends of urban women (69.6%) presenting for health checkup more often as compared with 30.4% visiting from rural residence. Conclusions Coronary artery disease (CAD) is not uncommon in female gender. It is accompanied by varying symptom presentation with high mortality. It is seen that cardiac health awareness is significantly lacking among women as compared with men. There are almost static trends observed over the past 15 years, especially in premenopausal age group and rural domicile. Corrective actions inclining toward campaigns and communication to distribute information on cardiac disease prevention and treatment modalities among women are needed to curb CAD. This may promote early detection of CAD leading to early interventions to promote a healthy heart among women. Recommendations and necessary actions steps for a woman oriented cardiac program are the need of the hour.