Talking Women's heart health with Dr Esther Davis
Dr Esther Davis is a cardiologist and researcher at the Victorian Heart Hospital and Co-Lead of the Women's Heart Health Research Challenge at the Monash Victorian Heart Institute.
Esther’s sub-speciality is echocardiography, an imaging procedure that plays an integral role in the diagnosis and management of a wide variety of heart diseases. She also has a special interest in Women’s Heart Health and runs the Women’s Heart Health Clinic at the Victorian Heart Hospital.
Can you explain your area of expertise and the work you do?
I work doing a mixture of clinical work, research and education.
I run clinics where I see patients with a variety of cardiac conditions and I look after patients who are admitted to the Victorian Heart Hospital. I also interpret echocardiograms. An echocardiogram is a non-invasive ultrasound scan that take images of the heart to assess cardiac structure and function. This test can help to diagnose a range of cardiac conditions so that we can then work out what the best treatment is.
I have a particular interest in women’s heart health and am currently establishing the Women’s Heart Health Clinic at the Victorian Heart Hospital. The Women’s Heart Health Clinic focuses on cardiac conditions that are more common in women and on cardiovascular risk factors that are specific to women.
How important is collaboration in getting better outcomes for women with heart disease?
Huge advancements have been made in our understanding of the unique aspects of heart disease in women. Despite this, there are many areas that we still don’t understand fully. Heart disease in women continues to be under diagnosed and under treated. Women are also under represented in clinical trials in cardiology.
Collaborating with researchers, institutions, organisations, and patients, strengthens our capacity to develop and implement strategies and programs to improve cardiovascular health. I am fortunate to work at the Victorian Heart Hospital because of its commitment to collaboration to provide innovative, holistic and patient-centred care, as well as world-leading research and education.
What are some of the biggest challenges in tackling heart disease in women?
Many people still believe heart disease and heart attacks are something that happen to middle age men.
Too many women simply do not know that heart disease is the biggest killer of women in Australia. Almost every hour of every day an Australian woman dies of heart disease.
Many women are unaware of their risk of heart disease. We know that women are less likely to recognise the symptoms of heart attack and heart disease and may experience symptoms of heart disease differently to men. This can lead to women being less likely to be diagnosed with heart disease, and to women being less likely to undergo treatment for heart attack and chest pain compared to men.
We need to educate women to change this gender stereotype about heart disease and encourage them to advocate for their own heart health, as well as making health practitioners and the community better informed about the gender differences in heart health.
What needs to happen to improve women’s heart health?
We need to continue to work to develop strategies to inform and educate women and clinicians about women’s heart disease and what the research in this area tells us. This could help to improve the heart health of 50% of the population.
We also need to improve participation of women in clinical trials in Cardiology so that we can ensure that our treatments work equally well in for women and men.
Can you share one thing you want people to know this Heart Week?
I want women to understand that they are also at risk of heart disease and to understand what their risk factors are. Most people know that high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, smoking or tobacco use, physical inactivity, obesity and unhealthy diet are risk factors for heart disease.
For women there are additional risk factors for heart disease including having a history of high blood pressure or diabetes in pregnancy, premature menopause, polycystic ovarian syndrome, experiencing depression or having a history of certain auto-immune disorders or cancer treatments.
Listen to your body and your heart and if you have concerns get yourself checked out.
I would encourage all women over the age of 45, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women over the age of 30, to see their GP for a heart health check to discuss their risk of developing heart disease and what they can do to reduce that risk.