In this session, Prof. den Ruijter will show why diagnosing heart disease in women is difficult and why it is important to study men and women separately in scientific cardiovascular research. She will present her work on pathophysiological differences between men and women and how this affects heart disease diagnosis. In addition, Prof. den Ruijter will show the importance of novel biomarkers that will enable a better diagnosis of heart disease in women in clinical practice. After the presentation, Dr. Carmen Erkelens will reflect on the challenges of diagnosing heart disease in women from the perspective of the general practitioner.
This session has the following learning objectives:
- Learn about the challenges in diagnosing heart disease in women
- Learn about the different presentations of heart disease in men and women
- Learn about novel biomarkers for diagnosing heart disease in women
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Hester den Ruijter, MSc PhD
,Professor of Cardiovascular disease in womenDepartment of Cardiology
University Medical Center UtrechtProfessor of Operational ResearchUniversity College London
London
UKProfessor den Ruijter's aim is to translate knowledge from experimental research to the patient. In women, the diagnosis of heart disease is a problem. Most available diagnostics for heart disease have been tested in men and directly translated to women. Nowadays we are increasingly becoming aware that male-derived tests do not always detect heart disease in women. There are interesting sex differences in the pathophysiology of heart disease that may explain why diagnostic tests developed in men fail to detect heart disease in women. Therefore, her goal is to obtain novel biomarkers that facilitate the diagnosis of heart disease in women, and to understand why these sex differences occur.
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Carmen Erkelens, MD, PhD, Epidemiologist
Assistant Professor
Department of General Practice & Nursing ScienceJulius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care at University Medical Center Utrecht, the NetherlandsDr. Carmen Erkelens, MD, PhD is Assistant Professor at the Department of General Practice & Nursing Science at the Julius Center for Health Science and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht. Her research focuses on safe diagnostics & triage in primary care practice. Carmen also practices as a GP/family physician in primary healthcare center Zaandam-Oost.
