Implantable electronic devices are consistently underused in women with heart disease compared with men, an Australian cohort study shows.

Sydney cardiologists have warned that eligible women are nearly 60% less likely to receive cardiac devices than male patients — and that this is likely because of systemic sex bias.

“With increasing use of cardiac devices globally, this research should provoke further examination of the reasons for these concerning sex differences as well as ways to address them,” the team, led by Dr Clara Chow at Westmead Hospital, concluded.

Previous research has already shown that Australian women experiencing ST-elevation MI are half as likely as men to receive life-saving interventions and they have more than double the risk of death six months later.