Multimodality Imaging for Diagnosis of Ischemic Heart Disease in Latin American Women from IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) Collaboratory

This paper examines sex-specific disparities in CVD, the assessment of CVD risk, and the imaging techniques utilized for diagnosing IHD in women, with a focus on recent advancements. Additionally, it proposes multifaceted solutions to address challenges in healthcare accessibility in LATAM.

Ischemic heart disease (IHD) remains the primary cause of female mortality globally. A third of these deaths occur prematurely, with younger women experiencing the most rapid rise in cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality. Latin America (LATAM), primarily composed of low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), are challenged with limited healthcare access, resulting in under-diagnosis and under-treatment of IHD.

Despite comprising 10% of the world's population and an IHD-adjusted mortality rate of 66.4 per 100,000 individuals, it remains perplexing that women's mortality rates exceed those of men in LATAM where numerous factors are projected to amplify IHD incidence by 300% over the next two decades. There have been several advances in cardiovascular imaging that allows for earlier and more accurate diagnosis of CVD in women. Future research should incorporate a greater proportion of LATAM women to further study this population to hopeful improve cardiovascular outcome in this population.