Family Burdens and Prejudice: Protecting Women's Hearts

The conference represented an opportunity for dissemination and meeting between different worlds united by the goal of finally bringing women's cardiovascular health to the center of attention.

«Men dictated the rules not only because for a long time they were doctors more than women, but above all because the patients in the clinical trials were predominantly men», explains Professor Iacopo Olivotto with a frankness that reveals decades of distorted interpretations. "The result? Prevention and treatment protocols modeled for men, while unfortunately women suffer from heart disease just as much as men, albeit at a later age."

But the problem goes beyond scientific researchOlivotto brings to light a somewhat surprising fact: "There are studies showing that single women are diagnosed much earlier than married women and women with children. This phenomenon affects various pathologies, not just cardiac ones, and reveals how much the burden of family care weighs on women's health. "When there is a family, women shoulder much more burden than men and are therefore always worried about everyone, but certainly less about themselves."

Professor Franco Cecchi, president of AICARM, points the finger at a still-rooted prejudice: "First and foremost, we need to give importance to women's symptoms, not to think they're neurotic, anxious, or aggressive. Some illnesses manifest differently." And she adds a prime example: "We've heard of arrhythmias that are typical of women, and since they often come and go, they're not taken into consideration."

Marigrazia Catania, who acted as a liaison between the two organizers, recounts the genesis of this event: an active AICARM volunteer and a Soroptimist, she saw gender medicine, one of Soroptimist's pillars, as the perfect opportunity to combine the two. "I know the AICARM speakers; I've always heard them speak in a general sense, but this time they managed to orient the topic of cardiomyopathy in a new way, one specifically geared toward women."

Rita Chiappa, National Program Director of Soroptimist, places the initiative in an even broader context: "The President of Soroptimist International, Renata Trothman, said that gender medicine will be one of its main focuses starting in January 2026." And she appreciates the event's educational potential: "As a non-specialist, I followed it very easily, precisely because of the speakers' ability to simplify complex concepts for a non-specialist audience."

Professor Sandra Zecchi She captures the innovative essence of the day: "It truly was a melting pot of so many things: a patient-doctor association, an association of women working in the professions, the academy adapting to an audience of non-experts." She adds a crucial reflection: "When you think of gender medicine, you think of gynecologists, of childbirth. In reality, there's a whole world behind it that's very important to explore and that, thanks primarily to women, is increasingly emerging."

In the afternoon, direct testimonies from patients completed the picture., transforming data and statistics into concrete stories. Because, as Olivotto reminds us, change must begin with widespread awareness: "It's not just the legacy of the label of the anxious woman, it's the very fact that women sometimes neglect themselves to care for others. And this model must evolve at the level of primary care, not specialist care, starting with general practitioners."

A conference that, as Zecchi hopes, "I would love to see repeated." Because recognizing gender differences in medicine isn't a matter of ideology or sensitivity: it's the very foundation of proper and effective clinical practice.