Process
Status Items Highlights Done See section below Claims None Questions None Output None
Highlights
Time 0:01:15
Surviving Heart Attack Sally was taken to warwick hospital and sent home that same evening with medication to treat indigestion. Then a couple of days later, ended up back in hospital with the same chest pain. A student nurse saw thee c g and she was thy, oh my goodness, this is saying you having heartatack. So she called the cardiologist down. Three cardiologists stood around her bed,. all of them said, now, look, c c g is telling us you’re having a har atack, but we actually don’t believe it, because you’re 36, you don’t drink, you don’t smoke, you have you’re not overweight, and Transcript: Speaker 3 And by then, because my breathing was so forced and i was panicking, i suppose, my hands went all crunched up and i couldn’t open my hands. And so the ambulance guis presumed i was having a panic attack, and i was trying to explain while i am panicking now. But it didn’t start that way. Speaker 1 Sally was taken to warwick hospital and sent home that same evening with medication to treat indigestion. Speaker 3 Then a couple of days later, ended up back in hospital with the same chest pain. Was given an e c g. And a student nurse saw thee c g and she was thy, oh my goodness, this is saying you having heartatack. So she called the cardiologist down. So i had three cardiologists standing around my bed, all of them saying, now, look, c c g is telling us you’re having a har atack, but we actually don’t believe it, because you’re 36, you Don’t drink, you don’t smoke, you have you’re not overweight, and you don’t have any family history of heart attacks. Speaker 1 Sally tells me, one of the cardiologists, they were all men, by the way, said he would bet her a million pounds, that she wasn’t having a heart attack.
Time 0:02:26
Bias and Health Care i start off this episode with all sorts of ideas about how to fix bias an a i. But by the end, as you’ll hear, i realized that maybe i was approaching this all wrong. This was an episode that really forced me to re evaluate my thinking. And if you’re the cardiologist that oe sally a million pounds, get in touch. I’ll get you her bank details. Transcript: Speaker 1 Sally tells me, one of the cardiologists, they were all men, by the way, said he would bet her a million pounds, that she wasn’t having a heart attack. But she was. And if sally had been diagnosed sooner, her heart might have ended up being less damaged. I’m caroline creato perris, and this is visible women, my new weekly podcast from tortoise, investigating how we finally fix a world designed for men. In this episode, i’m actually not just looking at heart attacks. I’m looking at bias and health care, and whether the emerging use of a i means it’s about to get a lot i start off this episode with all sorts of ideas about how to fix bias an a i. But by the end, as you’ll hear, i realized that maybe i was approaching this all wrong. This was an episode that really forced me to re evaluate my thinking. Oh, and if you’re the cardiologist that oe sally a million pounds, get in touch. I’ll get you her bank details. It turns out that sally has a condition called spontaneous coronary artery dissection, or scad. Scat. Has until fairly recently, been thought of as a rare condition, but some cardiologists now think it’s actually been historically under diagnosed. It’s the most common cause of heart attacks in women under the age of forty, as well as in women who are either pregnant or have recently given birth. And more than 90 % of scad patients are female.
Time 0:05:23
The Gender Data Gap in Health Care Sally’s story is shocking, but i didn’t find it surprising. Women who have a heart attack in the u k are 50 % more likely to be misdiagnosed than men. They are also more likely to die. The gender data gap in health care was actually what prompted me to write my book in visible. Transcript: Speaker 1 The parametic did an e c g to check sally’s heartbeat, but she knew the equipment he was using wouldn’t pick up her kind of heart attack. Sally explained this to him, but it didn’t help. Her husband ended up phoning her cardiologist. Speaker 5 And even my cardiologist was almost begging this paramedic, no, please. You must take her to the bigger hospital. Speaker 3 And he still was arguing. So it took 20 minutes for this paramedic to say, o all right, then we’ll take you to the further hospital. And ha, could have been the last 20 minutes of my life. Speaker 1 Sally’s story is shocking, but i didn’t find it surprising. Women who have a heart attack in the u k. Are 50 % more likely to be misdiagnosed than men. They are also more likely to die. And basically because the vast majority of medical data we have collected historically and continue to collect to day, including in cardio vascular research, has been in the male Body. Male humans, male animals, even male cells. The gender data gap in health care was actually what prompted me to write my book in visible.
Time 0:07:33
The Symptoms Aren’t Really the Problem Most common symptom of a heart attack is chest pain. Some women will experience different symptoms like breathlessness, nausea and fatigue. Doctors are often not thinking about female rist factors when they’re assessing patients. This leads to under diagnosis which in turn fuels the perception that heart attacks don’t happen in women. And so the cycle continues. Transcript: Speaker 1 She’s a consultant cardiologist at a busy teaching hospital in south wales, and 50 % of her work load is women. Nichat tells me that the most common symptom of a heart attack, for both men and women, is chest pain. For some women, the chest pain may feel more like a tightness across the chest. Research also shows that some women will experience different symptoms like breathlessness, nausea, fatigue. But nichot says the symptoms aren’t really the problem. The problem is that even when women do present with the classic symptoms of a heart attack, like sally did, no one believes that they are, in fact having a heart attack. Speaker 3 Women themselves present late on the whole, and when they do present, their symptoms are often dismissed as stress and anxiety related. Speaker 1 It’s a vicious circle. The lack of research on women means doctors know less about what a heart attack looks like in women. This leads to under diagnosis, which in turn fuels the perception that heart attacks don’t happen in women. And so the cycle continues. Nichat tells me that doctors are often not thinking about female rist factors when they’re assessing patients.