Are you a woman over 40 with back pain, neck or stomach pain? Then you should have your heart checked

Women's risk of experiencing cardiovascular issues goes up after menopause. Photo: Getty

Sarah Kiely Lavelle

With one in four women in Ireland losing their lives to a cardiac-related illness each year and women six times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than they are from breast cancer, we must advance the conversation of women’s heart health.

Cardiovascular disease is often commonly perceived as something that affects older men on golf courses, but this stereotype is simply not true. The data shows us that women face unique challenges in the realm of cardiovascular wellbeing, an area that is under-studied, under-recognised, and under-treated and women are under-represented in clinical trials.