13/11/2026
Women’s cardiovascular health is increasingly being understood through a life-course lens.
That shift matters.
Sex-specific differences in symptom presentation, adverse pregnancy outcomes, the menopause transition and conditions such as spontaneous coronary artery dissection all add important context to cardiovascular risk and disease in women.
There are also disparities in what happens after a cardiovascular event.
A 2026 systematic review of 46 cohorts involving more than one million patients found that women were most consistently disadvantaged at the referral and initial-access stages of cardiac rehabilitation. Importantly, some s*x differences narrowed once referral had occurred.
This is particularly relevant alongside new 2026 multisociety guidance from the American Heart Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, which calls for cardiovascular prevention and management to account for female-specific factors across the lifespan.
For Women’s Heart Health Day, we’ve highlighted five pieces of research that help illustrate why women’s cardiovascular health deserves a more nuanced approach.
The evidence continues to reinforce an important message: women’s heart health cannot be understood through a one-size-fits-all model.
References are included on each slide.
