The project will support the development of a personalised service for postpartum cardiovascular risk assessment to ensure swift treatment to prevent cardiovascular disease later in life and is part of three UCD studies operating in St Michael’s Hospital Dún Laoghaire, Dublin, in her constituency.
Another project will investigate the social determinants of health impact on self-care of women at risk of and diagnosed with heart failure.
It aims to provide data that can be used to address the fact that women are more impacted by socio-economic factors, such as the caring burden in life, and how this affects their ability to self-care and manage their symptoms.
A third will focus on heart failure among women and enhancing prevention and early diagnostic strategies.
It will aim to ensure that women at risk of heart failure are quickly identified and given appropriate onward referral and management. It involves collaboration between 25 GP practices, with 500 female patients over the age of 40 undergoing a blood test to check for risk factors.
The three projects, with funding of €570,000, aim to address the “disproportionately higher impact of heart failure and cardiovascular disease in women by providing data, developing guidelines and establishing services that will ultimately lead to improvement prevention, treatment and management of heart conditions”.
Ms Carroll MacNeill said: “Historically, women’s experiences have been an afterthought in the development and improvement of health treatment and care.
“Women have a different experience, they present differently, their symptoms present differently, and that those symptoms have been, in many cases, under-recognised, leading to later diagnoses for women and more difficult outcomes.”
Clinical co-lead of the HSE National Heart Programme and Consultant Cardiologist, St Vincent’s Healthcare Group Prof Ken McDonald said: “Increasingly, we are realising that there are critical differences in the pathway to heart failure among women and how women present and are managed with this condition.
“These areas require specific focus and attention.”