Frost & Sullivan’s recent analysis, Post-Pandemic Global Healthcare Market Outlook, 2020, forecasts that 2020 will be an unforgiving but transformational year for the healthcare industry. As the world grapples with a global emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the healthcare industry is expected to witness a drop in growth from 5.3 per cent to 0.6 per cent in 2020, with revenues remaining below the US$2 trillion mark.

"While the life sciences segment seems to be surviving and thriving, in certain scenarios, medical technologies and imaging are expected to be hit the hardest. Elective procedures being on hold and delayed or prolonged procurement of capital equipment will have a negative impact on revenue, from US$413.9 billion to US$377.1 billion for medical devices and from US$31.5 billion to US$18.1 billion for imaging equipment,” said Frost & Sullivan’s Transformational Health Program Manager. “Additionally, with telehealth transforming care delivery and health IT enhancements in analytics and interoperability, digital health will continue to thrive at a growth rate of 7.9 per cent in 2020.”

He added: "While the short-term demand for testing and the race to find a vaccine intensifies, governments are reallocating budgets to finance healthcare services and assessing the feasibility of immunity passports, mass vaccinations, and scaling up of contact tracing. Moving forward, healthcare IT companies such as Microsoft, Optum, Intel, and AWS are betting big on enterprise-grade AI platforms that predict pandemics, forecast patient volume across providers, authenticate reimbursement, and drive general well-being of the insured population through medication management and self-care enablement.

In light of the lessons learned from the pandemic and the changing economic and business scenario, Frost & Sullivan has re-visited predictions, identified top growth opportunities and analysed risk-mitigation measures adopted by companies to survive the remainder of 2020.

Top 5 post COVID-19 predictions

1. The KSA, UAE and Indian telehealth markets have reached a tipping point with growth of more than 200 per cent during the pandemic. Virtual consultations by healthcare professionals will become the mainstream care delivery model post-pandemic. However, reimbursement, training physicians, and platform scalability will be the key to recalibrating telehealth.
2. Informatics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions addressing workflow automation and operational analytics will witness 100 per cent growth in 2020. For instance, GE Healthcare's industry-first, FDA-cleared Critical Care Suite AI tool will help radiologists prioritise critical cases. The resumption in imaging for the backlog of elective procedures in Q3 and Q4 will result in teleradiology and AI-based solutions gaining from new investments. Scale-up in capacity, flexible payment options, and redistribution of the workload will accelerate partnerships.
3. The United States will have an excess of 100,000 ventilators, while Western Europe will purchase another 30,000 to 50,000 ventilators through the end of 2020. This uneven distribution across regions will redefine non-hospital and home critical care models, while embedded analytics systems will revive the mature monitoring devices segment post-pandemic. Resmed has launched a remote monitoring solution for ventilators in the U.S, and Europe through its cloud-based AirView platform for homecare.
4. Traditional models of in vitro diagnostics (IVD) testing in a healthcare setting is unable to meet unprecedented demand. By the end of 2020, the US$5 billion PoCT infectious diseases market will drive the impending change in service models, with alternate testing sites like pharmacies becoming permanent ecosystem participants. In the U.S., CVS and Walgreens have begun building the infrastructure to offer IVD testing at their locations.
5. By the end of 2020, 33 per cent of global clinical trials will be disrupted, putting US$3 billion in new product revenues at risk. Disrupted clinical trials and the subsequent delay in drug launches will pave the way for fully virtual trials, and hybridisation of patient recruitment, retention, and monitoring will become all-pervasive.

Post-Pandemic Global Healthcare Market Outlook, 2020 is part of Frost & Sullivan’s global Transformational Health Growth Partnership Service program.

Scientists have analysed data from around the world to examine the accuracy of antibody tests for COVID-19 and have shown that the timing of testing is critical. The tests do not work accurately when administered at the wrong time.

In the most comprehensive review of its kind of COVID-19 testing, researchers have examined all available test accuracy evidence for antibody tests published up to the end of April. By combining data from many studies, they have shown that the tests are not accurate enough to confirm whether someone has the COVID-19 virus if used in the first two weeks after symptoms appear.

They found that tests are only likely to be useful in detecting previous SARS-CoV-2 infection if used at least 14 days after the onset of symptoms but say that studies show that the tests will miss 1 in 10 cases of COVID-19. However, they caution over-reliance on this figure, as the studies were small, poorly reported and done in select patient groups.

The researchers also fear accuracy will be lower when tests are used in the community, as the tests have mostly been evaluated in hospitalised patients – making it unclear whether they can detect lower antibody levels associated with milder and asymptomatic COVID-19 disease.

Accuracy of COVID-19 antibody tests

Led by experts at the University of Birmingham, a group of researchers drawn from universities around the globe have published their findings in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.

Jon Deeks, Professor of Biostatistics and head of the Test Evaluation Research Group at the University of Birmingham says: “Our systematic review has identified, appraised and synthesised all available data on the accuracy of antibody tests for detecting COVID-19 infection. We found clear evidence that the timing of testing in relation to the onset of symptoms is key. If antibody tests are used too soon after infection, there is a good chance of missing true cases. There is very limited evidence for the accuracy of these tests after five weeks.

“Most of the studies have been conducted in people hospitalised with COVID-19, probably with a high proportion of more severe cases and so we can’t be sure that these results will translate to people who had milder or even no symptoms, or to people who were infected more than five weeks previously.

“In spite of these limitations, antibody tests could be useful to confirm infection in people who still have symptoms after two weeks but have never had a swab test and to identify what percentage of people have previously had an infection so that the extent to which the infection has spread in the population can be estimated. At the level of the individual, although antibody tests can detect the previous infection, we don’t yet know if having antibodies provides protection from further infection, and if so for how long, so a positive antibody test does not mean that people can consider themselves immune.

The immune system of people who have COVID-19 responds to infection by developing cells that can attack the virus (antibodies) in their blood. Tests to detect antibodies in peoples’ blood could show whether they currently have COVID-19 or have had it previously.

Some tests use venous blood and specialist laboratory equipment, whilst others use finger-prick blood samples on disposable devices similar to pregnancy tests, which can be performed in laboratories, hospitals or at home.

“We have not yet been able to reliably identify whether any particular test or type of antibody test performs better than others, however, we will continue to update the review as more studies emerge in this fast-moving field,” Deeks adds.

“The design, execution and reporting of studies of the accuracy of COVID-19 tests require considerable improvement, and action needs to be taken to ensure that all results of test evaluations are available in the public domain and not withheld by test manufacturers to ensure we can provide the best estimates of the accuracy for these tests.”

The first World Health Organization (WHO) enlisted global clinical Phase III trial of Sinopharm CNBG’s inactivated vaccine to combat COVID-19 has started in Abu Dhabi and has been inspired by the UAE Leadership’s vision and commitment to overcome the pandemic through a global collaborative effort.

H.E. Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Hamed, Chairman of the Department of Health, Abu Dhabi, was the first individual in the world to commence the trial of Phase III inactivated vaccine for COVID-19. The Department’s Acting Undersecretary, Dr. Jamal Al Kaabi was the second volunteer to trial the vaccine showcasing the commitment of the UAE Government and the Health Authorities to find a cure for humanity’s biggest challenge of the 21^st century.

The world’s first Phase III trial is the result of a cooperation partnership between Abu Dhabi based G42 Healthcare, currently at the forefront of the battle against COVID-19 in the UAE, and Sinopharm CNBG, the world’s sixth-largest vaccine manufacturer, ranked 169th on the Fortune Global 500 list of 2018.

The trials are being operated by health practitioners from Abu Dhabi Health Services (SEHA) who are providing facilities at five of their clinics in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain in addition to a mobile clinic to ensure the trials are readily accessible to volunteers participating in the programme.

Over the past few months, G42 Healthcare has established a massive throughput laboratory to speed up the detection of the disease; manufactured essential PPE; conducted research into new vaccines and drug therapies, and used its advanced AI capabilities to map and predict trends in the outbreak, virus mutations and help combat the disease.

Vaccine trials

The UAE was the preferred choice for the cooperation partnership to conduct the Phase III trials for the inactive vaccine as the nation is home to over 200 nationalities, allowing for robust research across multiple ethnicities and increasing its feasibility for global application on the success of the trials.

The UAE Health Authorities have recently issued a permit for up to 15,000 volunteers to take part in the trials. G42 Healthcare and SEHA are working towards achieving a minimum of 5,000 participants in the first stage of the programme to ensure the robustness of the results.

The clinical trial commencement is the start of a series of national initiatives to both foster population health and to enhance the UAE's medical research and development capabilities, including the local capacity to manufacture the vaccine.

Trial formally began in the presence of the Chinese Ambassador to the UAE, H.E Ni Jian; senior health department officials and G42 Healthcare and Sinopharm CNBG representatives. The first group of volunteers including UAE nationals and expatriates received the vaccine at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City.

The clinical trials are being conducted under the strict guidance and supervision of the Department of Health Abu Dhabi and SEHA – the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company. The trials follow all international guidelines stipulated by the WHO and the United States Food & Drug Authority (USFDA).

The study, if successful, will be approved and accredited by the Ethics Committee for Scientific Research in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Commenting on the start of the programme, UAE Principle Investigator Sheikh Khalifa Medical City CMO and Chairperson of the National COVID-19 Clinical Management Committee Dr. Nawal Ahmed Alkaabi said: “Our participation in this trial enables us to make a major contribution in the global fight to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a matter of national pride that we are able to help facilitate the trial process that could have a worldwide impact and help people around the world to benefit from research and – if successful – the manufacture of a vaccine to fight back against this disease.”

The phase III clinical trial follows the success of the phase I and phase II trials conducted by Sinopharm in China, which resulted in 100 per cent of the volunteers generating antibodies after two doses in 28 days.  The phase III trials will be open to individual volunteers aged between 18 and 60 living in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain and will last for 42 days.

A key factor for COVID-19 vaccine is the urgency around global implementation.  Computing power, data processing and diagnostic analysis are G42 Healthcare’s global competitive advantage to support the successful delivery of the world’s first phase III trials of inactivated vaccine.

G42 Healthcare CEO Ashish Koshy said: “We are enormously proud that Sinopharm CNBG has partnered G42 Healthcare in this groundbreaking phase III clinical trial in the UAE. Using our AI solutions, super-computer, advanced diagnostics solutions for COVID-19, G42 Healthcare is uniquely postured to conduct these trials. G42 Healthcare will be responsible for running clinical operations for this trial. We will be leveraging our group’s technical and our own business capabilities to: compute, correlate and provide fast and synthesized insights by deploying multiple AI models on the data generated during the trials to accelerate the much-awaiting results. G42 Healthcare will be mobilising the logistical management of the trials taking in learnings from its proven capabilities in CRO management, clinical sites initiations and other E2E programme management activities.”

Jingjin Zhu, President, Biological products, Sinopharm CNBG added: “The UAE is a nation of innovation and tolerance, that is home to individuals from every part of the world and ethnic background. We will work closely with our partner to complete this clinical trial successfully and make this vaccine available to the people in need worldwide. With the full support of local authorities, cutting-edge technologies provided by our partner G42 Healthcare, and high-quality services and supports from the medical and clinical entities, we will jointly contribute to the battle against COVID-19 worldwide.

Now that the trials have officially commenced, G42 Healthcare and the UAE Health Authorities will shortly launch a public awareness campaign to encourage UAE residents to participate in this critical to humanity clinical trial programme.

Volunteers interested in participating in the Phase III trials of COVID-19 inactivated vaccine in Abu Dhabi can register on 4humanity.ae.

Without a doubt, the healthcare industry is a massive business. In 2018, the global healthcare industry was worth almost US$9 trillion. Every part of the world is affected by this rapid growth and a constant need for improvement in the medical field. As the demand rises, innovations rise up to the challenge, as well. Technology has always been a big part of healthcare. But a real game-changer came with the introduction of the Internet of Things (IoT).

IoT represents a network of devices. These devices are connected and can share information. Moreover, this does not refer to smartphones and PCs only. The idea behind the IoT is that any device can become a part of that network, such as cars, kitchen appliances, lighting control systems, air conditioning—you name it. Once they are connected, they can communicate with one another. The data collected can then be used to perform tasks. What does this mean for the healthcare industry?

What can IoT do for healthcare?

The IoT has already entered the field of medicine. In some state-of-the-art hospitals, you will be able to see it first-hand. Some examples are connected inhalers and insulin pens, as well as ingestible sensors.

Devices can communicate with one another, transferring data and calling to action. This allows medical professionals to have a faster response time. Also, the internet of things enables doctors to provide remote and around-the-clock medical assistance. The end result is better patient care. In this case, technological advancement and innovation are responsible for the lives saved.

What trends can we expect in the future?

There is still a lot of room for improvement. While IT experts are fine-tuning the devices, more help in the healthcare field is needed every day. The best way to use IoT is to broaden your perspective. Any medical device can be a part of the network, and it should. That way, more accurate and faster access to data is enabled. The one thing that needs to be a priority is patients’ security and confidentiality of medical records. The overall usage will increase when everyone is satisfied with the end product.

All of us in the UAE are wearing a face mask outdoors (reminder – if you don’t there is a AED 3,000 fine), but are you sure you're wearing it correctly?

Face masks need to cover the nose and mouth and have ear loops or ties at the back of the head and are an additional step to help slow the spread of COVID-19 when combined with everyday preventive actions such as social distancing.

While the task of putting it on might not seem that complicated, but if you are doing it wrong, you might accidentally expose yourself to the possibility of catching COVID-19. Moreover, the point of the mask is to prevent others from you in case you have the illness and are asymptomatic (someone who has the virus but is not showing any symptoms). When someone coughs, sneezes or even talks, they may release tiny drops into the air that could potentially infect other people. Therefore, it makes it even more important to have these on in public settings as they help in limiting the spread of germs.

How to put on a face mask

Do you follow the below steps while putting on your face mask? If not, ensure that you to keep these in mind and put these habits in practice daily:

• Before touching the mask, thoroughly clean your hands with soap and water or hand sanitizer.
• Check the face mask to make sure there are no holes and to see which side of the mask is the front side. In most instances, the coloured side of the mask is usually the front. Also, the side of the mask that has a stiff bendable edge is the top.
• When using a face mask with ear loops, place a loop around each ear. For ones with ties, bring the mask to nose level and place the ties over the crown of the head and secure with a bow.
• Once on, pinch the stiff edge to the shape of your nose to secure the face mask. A lot of the times people have the masks under their nose. That doesn’t ensure protection at all! The mask needs to cover the mouth, as well as the nose.
• Stretch the bottom half of the mask over your mouth and chin. Ensure that there are no big gaps on the sides of the mask. It should be well-fitted but make sure that you can breathe easily.
• You are now ready to step outside.

Check out the video by the World Health Organization (WHO) below on how to wear a fabric mask safely.

Next steps

It can’t be stressed enough that while putting on a face mask is essential, there are other factors to keep in mind too, in order to ensure complete protection. For instance, the mask will do its job and stop the virus from getting into your mouth or nose. But the virus could land on the outside of your mask. Therefore, avoid fidgeting and touching the outside of the mask, as the virus could then latch on to your hand and be passed onto things that you touch.

Doctors also strongly advise to not touch your face and when removing the mask to take it off using the side straps.

Furthermore, disposable face masks should always be used once and then thrown in the trash and be removed or replaced when they become moist. In the case of fabric face masks, wash them in the washing machine with hot water and completely dry on medium or high heat. Read our guide on how to keep face masks clean here.

Due to budget constraints and priorities that do not reflect real needs of their healthcare systems, many African countries are pushed against the wall of surrendering the management of sensitive human health sector to Western countries, particularly the United States through health collaborations and bilateral agreements.

Indeed, on the basis of history and autonomy of respective countries, it can be easily said that this situation accelerates dependence. It leaves many African countries and the lives of Africans controlled by these Western countries that historically have an interest in Africa.

Interestingly, in this period when the world has been battling various pandemics spurred by viruses, chemicals but also the growing proliferation and glorification of biological weapons among nations, it is clear that bio-safety industries, in general, among African countries, means the biggest security threat to the continent.

Indeed, amidst large-scale violations of global commitments and agreements on the regulation of chemical and biological weapons, the recent provocative behaviours, which are observed through the violation of global norms, such as promoting unilateralism instead of multilateralism, but also the growing ill-founded actions that disregard global governing bodies, it is widely clear that the continuing human health-related activities by the U.S. and its agencies within the African continent should be assessed and reconsidered.

Two factors add more to possible risks. First is the demand for the testing ground of human vaccines and drugs but secondly, with the growing biological welfare, there is also a high demand for trials to determine the effectiveness of the created biological or even chemical weapons.

In this sense, Western powers are likely to disregard the existing protective rules and scientific practices, when it comes to drug and vaccine trials. Therefore, it can strongly be argued that Africans may be subjected to violations and mistreatment in the name of trials and experimentations.

Although under normal rules scientists and human vaccines or medical researchers have been observing the obtaining of individual informed consent and the respect of rights in the conducting of experiments, especially in using human samples, recent events, in particular by a French scientist who publicly on a TV programme mentioned the necessity of using Africans in vaccine trials against COVID-19, have raised serious concerns.

What is even more concerning, and alarming is what do they normally do in covert operations and activities? This is where there is a need for African countries and Africans to place strong protection on the human health sector against Western aggression and takeovers.

This is where the biggest problem lies. African governments continue to trust Western nations by entrusting a sensitive health sector that directly touches human lives to them. But more alarmingly, some countries are allowing access to sensitive bio-safety data and also surrendering volumes of their health sector’s big data to them.

According to the report by the Human Rights Organisation, the catastrophe brought by Pfizer resulted to a group of Nigerian minors and their guardians suing the company in the U.S. federal court in 2001 under the Alien Tort Act (ATCA). They alleged Pfizer of violating the customary international law by administering Trovan to minors in Kano during the meningitis outbreak. The plaintiffs in Abdullahi v. Pfizer claim that the drug was given without the informed consent of the children and their parents. It was claimed further that the drug trial led to the deaths of 11 children and serious injuries to many others.

The complete article can be viewed here.

It’s not every day you come across a physician who peppers his conversation with sci-fi references from Minority Report to Iron Man, but Dr Rafael Grossmann is different. The Venezuela-born surgeon, who practices in Maine, is welcoming the future with open arms, albeit virtual arms, as a proud advocate for the adoption of VR, AR and XR in healthcare.

Dr Grossmann, it’s fair to say, is keen on shiny tech. A Google Glass Explorer, prolific social media author from YouTube to Twitter, and TEDx speaker, he is no stranger to pursuing all things new. He recently expounded on the latest healthtech at Omnia Health Live, when he revealed eye-opening uses of gadgets in the operating theatre and beyond.

But there is one revolution in particular that excites him the most, however – one that had its beginnings in black and white on the humble computer screen from three decades ago.

Speaking to Omnia Health Insights, he explained that spatial computing will have a transformative impact in healthcare.

In his words, spatial computing represents the fourth era of computing that began with MS-DOS (familiar to any reader over 40) before evolving to the desktop of the Mac and Windows era before evolving again to today’s touchscreen.

With spatial computing, any action is performed in the air (the device is less important). Digital content is superimposed on the real world, and the end user may interact with it in what is an Extended Reality environment, or XR.

As an example, Dr Grossmann offered the following scenario: a patient or colleague is brought into the same physical space by a healthcare worker – wherever they are. Their actual distance apart is 1,000 miles, but in a virtual context they are in the same room. The patient is a real-time avatar, generated via a head-mounted device. The two seamlessly move and interact in real-time, making possible anything from conference calls to assisting in surgery.

In perhaps a more relatable example, he added “Think Tony Stark. It’s exactly how it is in the movie [Iron Man].”

Problem solving

Dr Grossmann believes that spatial computing, when paired with AI algorithms that allow the means to collect, interact with and analyse data, will solve many problems.

A surprising problem that this can help ease is inequality.

The physician pointed to how the pandemic has affected different cultural groups, owing to comorbidities. “If you’re Afro-American, Hispanic or Native American, your chances of dying are much higher. This is unacceptable.”

Healthcare requires fixing so that it works for every socio-economic status and background, believes Dr Grossmann, and this will require efforts from top to bottom in what is a complex task. “It’s a team sport,” he acknowledged.

However, he also suggested that tech could play an important role. XR could allow an experienced surgeon located in an advanced economy, for example, to provide expert guidance remotely to a team operating in a poorer country.

It’s for this reason that innovation “has to happen”. While the economic opportunity to innovate is worth billions, there is a strong altruistic incentive to help the two-thirds of the world who do not have access to the basics the remainder take for granted.

Smart collaborations

Dr Grossmann was the first doctor to use Google Glass during live surgery. While Google Glass, launched in 2013, ultimately failed to gain public traction, it nonetheless remains popular in the healthcare community and continues to grow in the background.

Today, every tech giant is talking innovation in healthcare.

Microsoft and Phillips have developed an AR concept for image-guided minimally invasive surgeries. Their alliance will provide an “incredible platform” for HoloLens2 application in healthcare.

Better known for its smartphones and wearables, Apple is now talking about AI glasses with AR lenses, showing that it is also thinking aggressively about healthcare.

Despite these advances, there remain barriers to be overcome.

“The main problem is regulators and hospital administrations not welcoming true innovation; they are fearful of liabilities, fines and reprimands,” Dr Grossmann said, adding that the floodgates will need opening for innovation to flourish.

This is despite public approval and acceptance of technology – patients use tech in everyday life from purchasing airline tickets to doing their grocery shopping.

He recognises that there is potential for abuse – in AI in particular “we’ve seen it in movies throughout the decades” but stressed that the problem isn’t the technology itself.

Pandemic progress

Dr Grossmann remains optimistic, however, that barriers will be overcome. Many countries are realising that innovation is the way to go: the UK, Spain and the Netherlands, for example, have shown leadership; Singapore too, and in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the Middle East, while there is change happening in Africa and Latin America.

But perhaps the biggest force for change is the pandemic. The physician highlighted how COVID-19 has accelerated progress, and offered telemedicine, wearables that track disease and genomics as examples of areas that have seen rapid developments in recent months.

“We’re using technologies because of the pandemic,” Dr Grossmann assured. “They’re here to stay.”

You can follow Dr Grossmann on Twitter and read his blog at www.rafaelgrossmann.com. 

Women have unique risk factors for heart disease that need to be taken into account in prevention and treatment strategies, according to a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist who led a team tasked with updating recommendations on women and cardiovascular disease for the American College of Cardiology.

Traditionally, doctors have treated men and women as the same when it comes to heart disease, but the director of the Women’s Cardiovascular Center at Cleveland Clinic, Leslie Cho, M.D., says that it is time to start thinking differently.

She explains: “For years, we’ve thought about men and women as having the exact same risk factors, namely, high blood pressure, hyperlipidaemia, smoking, diabetes and family history. However, while heart disease is the number-one killer and most prevalent disease in women, women actually have a very low risk in terms of the traditional risk factors.

“However, some conditions specific to women, such as endometriosis, have been found to raise the risk of developing coronary artery disease – the leading cause of heart attacks – by 400 per cent in women under age 40.”

In compiling the updated recommendations, Dr. Cho and her team reviewed diseases that are more prevalent in women; sex-related differences in traditional risk factors; and risk factors that only women experience, such as those related to pregnancy.

Risks unique to women

In terms of pregnancy-related conditions, they noted that high blood pressure during pregnancy, gestational diabetes, preterm birth and miscarriages all increase a woman’s risk of developing heart disease. Identification of pregnancy-related conditions is important, says Dr. Cho, as it can help identify younger women, with low traditional-risk scores, to allow for earlier monitoring of cardiometabolic factors and management.

Hormonal conditions specific to women have also been associated with increased heart risk. One of these is premature menopause, defined as menopause before the age of 40.

Dr. Leslie Cho

Dr. Cho explains: “Oestrogen offers women some protection from heart disease until after menopause when oestrogen levels drop. This is why the average age of for a heart attack in women is later, at 70, as opposed to 66 in men.”

Another sex-specific risk factor is a hormonal condition called polycystic ovarian syndrome (POCS), found in one in 10 women. This is associated with cardiometabolic factors, which, in turn, are associated with increased heart disease risk. The cardiometabolic factors associated with POCS include abdominal obesity, abnormal glucose control and diabetes, elevated blood pressure, and abnormal amounts of fats – such as cholesterol – in the blood, known as dyslipidaemia.

Differences in traditional risks

Regarding sex-related differences in the traditional risk-factor category, it has been found that hypertension and diabetes are strong risk factors in women. Another risk factor, high blood pressure, is more common in women over the age of 50 than in men.

Woman are also more likely than men to experience depression or mental health issues, such as anxiety and chronic emotional stress, that can have an impact on their heart health.

“We really should be treating not just the blood pressure number, or the cholesterol number, but rather treating the whole patient, including their mental health, to have a good cardiovascular outcome,” says Dr. Cho.

She adds that studies have also shown sex differences in response to treatments, and doctors need to take these into account.

Common prevention strategies

Despite the different sex-related risks, Dr. Cho points out that there are common areas where either sex can lower their risk for heart disease by making changes to their lifestyles. Among these she includes avoiding smoking, getting regular exercise – at least a 30-minute walk daily – and maintaining a normal weight, blood pressure, blood lipid and blood sugar levels. She recommends a diet high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fish, and low in animal products, simple carbohydrates and processed foods.