Women with premature atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) are more inclined to report poorer overall physical and mental health—as well as an inability to seek medical help due to healthcare costs—than men with ASCVD, according to new data published in JAMA: Cardiology.
To gain a better understanding of the association of sex with physical and mental health domains and health care access–related factors among adults with self-reported premature ASCVD, the study's authors examined data from 748,090 patients with self-reported premature ASCVD. Patient ages ranged from 18 to 55 years old. All data came from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.
In the analysis, 3.3% of patients had self-reported premature ASCVD. Of that cohort, 47% were women.
When compared with men, researchers found, women were more prone to report being clinically depressed, and have cost-related medication nonadherence.
In addition, they were more likely to have not seen a physician due to cost and have overall poor physical health—even when they had health insurance.
“We found that despite having a primary care physician and healthcare coverage, women were more likely to have cost-related barriers to health care access,” wrote Vardhmaan Jain, MD, with the department of internal medicine at Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and colleagues. “Women were also more likely to report lower income and to be below the federal poverty line. Thus, despite having healthcare coverage, it may be more difficult for women to see a clinician or take a prescribed medication compared with men because of copays or other expenses.”
Another key finding from the team’s analysis was that, with the development of new therapies, the cost of drugs is expected to rise and may exacerbate unexamined disparities.
“Further, women have been shown to have higher rates of dissatisfaction with the healthcare system in the setting of poor patient-physician communication, which may discourage them further from seeing their physicians,” the authors wrote.
Jain et al. noted that adult patients with premature ASCVD, particularly women, may benefit from better access to mental health services as well as interventions that address out-of-pocket costs.
Read the full study here.