In recent years there has been a lot of talk about the so-called women’s heart. In practice, heart complaints often look different in women than in men, partly because women are much more likely to suffer from microvascular disease. Better diagnosis and treatment of heart complaints in women is therefore more than welcome. Researchers from UMC Utrecht, Tilburg University and Amsterdam UMC received a subsidy of 300,000 euros from ZonMw to focus on this. During the research, there will be collaboration with the start-up MEDxAI, which will support it in developing the software decision aid in the consultation room.
Heart problems different in women
In the Netherlands, 36,000 people die every year, half of whom are women, from cardiovascular disease. Because heart complaints are regularly experienced differently in women than in men and are also more often microvascular in nature (the so-called women’s heart), it is not always clear to women themselves exactly what they actually feel and whether that is an expression of heart disease. As a result, they do not always know whether or not they should go to the doctor. If they do make an appointment, it is a challenge for general practitioners and cardiologists to help these women in the right way. ‘Because the complaints in women are not always clear, unfortunately the correct diagnosis is still regularly missed or it takes too long before it is made’, we read on the website of UMC Utrecht.
Extra attention to women’s heart
The online decision aid and software support in the consultation room both help with better ‘deciding together’ in the consultation room. The software decision aid was developed during a successful hackathon at UMC Utrecht with the help of 6,808 patients who underwent coronary angiography. The software is developed as well as possible on the basis of feedback from practice and then the system is rolled out in other hospitals.
“In the IMPRESS+ study, we are investigating how the diagnosis and treatment of women with possible heart complaints can be improved,” explains Saskia Haitjema, doctor-researcher at UMC Utrecht. “My colleagues in Tilburg and Amsterdam are going to ‘further develop’ a decision aid to help women with heart complaints to see their GP on time and to support them in their discussion with their GP. In our research we look at how we can best add the decision aid for complaints to existing information websites.” The researchers also bring a gender-specific software decision aid to the cardiologist’s consultation room. In this way, it can be assessed together whether further imaging research is necessary.
Diagnosis Challenges in Women
According to Haijtjema, the diagnosis of women with possible heart complaints is a challenge. “At the moment, a lot of expensive, time-consuming and patient-intensive imaging research is taking place, the majority of which are negative. The decision aid can be used to support the joint decision of cardiologist and patient whether or not to perform additional imaging tests after the usual diagnosis to exclude a cause of the heart complaints.” In this way a lot of time can be saved and the right decisions can be made more effectively together. The researchers are therefore enthusiastic about the possibilities of these forms of digital health for women with possible heart problems.