The importance of interrogating sex differences in cardiovascular physiology and disease

Dr Natasha Karp, AstraZeneca, UK

Prof Amrita Ahluwalia, Queen Mary University of London, UK

Bias in both pre-clinical and clinical research to exclude females has led to our current scandalous situation of inadequate understanding of the female CV physiology and the mechanisms of the increasing and worrying morbidity and mortality due to CVD in women. Historically women have been identified to suffer less CVD than their male counterparts across the globe . However over the past two decades there has been a shift with worrying increases across predominantly Western countries in both incidence and mortality in women. This change has finally led to calls for action in addressing not only bias in treatment but also a bias in research funding allocation. This symposium aims to highlight some of the excellent research identifying important mechanisms underlying female CVD and also highlights the arguments underlying the imperative for a new and more inclusive approach to discovery research.

Why designing the right experiment to assess sex is important
Dr Natasha Karp
Director of Statistics AstraZeneca

Why the study of the effects of biological sex in cardiovascular physiology is important
Professor Georgios Kararigas
Professor University of Iceland

PGC-1α drives sex differences in heart failure susceptibility
Professor Pasi Tavi
Professor University of East Finland

Resolution of inflammation: women do it better
Dr Krishnaraj Rathod
Cardiology SpR Queen Mary University of London