Perceived risk of heart attack: a function of gender?

TOPIC: The influence of gender on women's risk beliefs for heart attack.

PURPOSE: To inform healthcare providers how women's beliefs and attitudes contribute to treatment-seeking delay in the event of a heart attack, and to establish the importance of risk beliefs in women.

SOURCES: Published literature in MEDLINE and CINAHL computerized databases, reference lists of obtained articles.

CONCLUSIONS: Women's perceived risk beliefs for heart attack are influenced by the effects of media, cultural, and gender roles and the modeling of bias in health care. There is a need for healthcare providers to change their focus from acting on (etic) a patient to interacting within (emic) the belief systems of their patients to optimize positive outcomes.