Last year, a Journal of the American Heart Association article highlighted how women aged 18 to 55 with chest pain in ERs waited 29% longer than men to be evaluated for potential life-threatening heart attacks.
This despite the documented mortality risk of heart disease for women, which is higher than for men, especially in younger age groups.
These alarming statistics point to a much larger question.
Historically, physicians are likelier to ignore women when they express pain than they do men, with Black women’s pain often being marginalized or completely ignored.