HEALTH, EQUALITY, PRIORITY

Seven women die every minute from cardiovascular disease in Europe.¹⁻²

LET'S ACT

Cardiovascular risk inequalities: Women are the #1 victims.

Often perceived as a male health issue, cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death among women worldwide. Despite this, there is still a lack of awareness and prevention of these diseases among women, leading to under-diagnosis, under-treatment, and therefore increased mortality.³

Hypertension, a silent killer. Especially in women.

1st risk factor Image

1st risk factor

in the development of cardiovascular diseases⁴

62% of hypertensive women are unaware they have it⁵ Image

62% of hypertensive women are unaware they have it⁵

1/3 of women suffer from hypertension⁶ Image

1/3 of women suffer from hypertension⁶

"Hypertension is the leading cause of cardiovascular diseases⁴ (such as stroke, myocardial infarction, heart failure, and fibrillation) and therefore the leading cause of death."

Professor Stéphane Laurent

The devastating mechanisms of hypertension

Hypertension silently damages the entire cardiovascular system: in response to increased pressure, the heart thickens and arteries become more rigid, disrupting the function of sensitive organs like the kidneys, heart, or brain, leading to death or serious cognitive or motor after-effects.⁴

Atrial fibrillation
Left ventricular hypertrophy
Coronary insufficiency
Cardiac valvulopathies

Our pledge

Our fight: detect, raise awareness, and change the paradigm of women's cardiovascular health

Home monitoring of blood pressure is a necessity
Adjust blood pressure standards for women
Same diseases, increased risks, female-specific factors
Recognize the “right” symptoms

"Gender inequalities impact health, particularly for women, who often prioritize others' care over their own due to cultural norms. This lack of self-care and delayed consultations result in an average diagnostic delay of four years, significantly reducing treatment effectiveness."

Mathilde Chevalier-Pruvo

Adapt medicine

Women and men have different DNA and therefore different physiology. Their medicine should also differ.

Indeed, female and male DNA differ, having consequences in their functioning, especially at the cardiovascular level. For example, sex chromosomes influence hormone production, thus altering the risk of diseases: estrogen protects women from heart diseases while increasing the risk of certain cancers, like breast cancer.¹⁰

Withings

Under-representation of women in research

Clinical studies in cardiology have traditionally favored male cohorts, leading to an insufficient understanding of gender-specificities in cardiovascular diseases, affecting the development of effective and suitable treatments for women.⁹

Specific risk factors

Stress and hormonal changes like menopause significantly impact women's cardiovascular health. Enhancing awareness and medical education about these factors is vital for prevention and diagnosis.¹⁰

Inequalities in cardiovascular treatment

Women are treated for their cardiovascular diseases less often than men. Only 20% of hypertensive women have balanced blood pressure thanks to effective and suitable care and treatment.¹⁻¹²

"We closely follow European and American cardiology recommendations, conduct clinical studies, and analyze real-life data on a large scale. This approach drives change toward a greater understanding of female hypertension and promotes individualized women's care."

Aline Criton Correas

Monitoring hypertension and its consequences

Monitoring cardiovascular health and hypertension involves tracking a set of biomarkers in addition to blood pressure: heart rate, ECG, arterial stiffness, activity score, body composition, and percentage of body fat.

"I have been diagnosed with a complete third-degree atrioventricular block. Despite maintaining 95% oxygen saturation while in the hospital, this sensation of asphyxiation causes me significant anxiety. ScanWatch allows me to monitor my sleep and oxygen levels to reassure myself, but also to provide my data to my doctor."

Fantine

"Having experienced diabetes and low blood pressure during my previous pregnancy, being able to easily monitor my heart rate and blood pressure data at home has become essential for me to prevent any potential discomfort."

Eve-Marie

"My Withings devices helped power my convalescence and allowed me to share my measurements with my doctor."

Melissa

Withings: a powerful home detection ecosystem. Without additional gestures.

To support women's health, Withings offers powerful health scans that are integrated into our watches, scales, and blood pressure monitors. These devices work together and form a user-friendly, holistic health monitoring system that can detect pathologies early, and encourage positive lifestyle changes.

Monitoring hypertension Image

Monitoring hypertension

Discover BPMs

Assessing the condition of arteries Image

Assessing the condition of arteries

Discover Body Scan

Detecting arrhythmias Image

Detecting arrhythmias

Discover Scanwatch 2

Discover your visceral fat risk Image

Discover your visceral fat risk

Discover Body Scan

Withings partners with hospitals and universities around the world, actively contributing to accelerating the technological revolution in healthcare. Our clinical research aims to better understand and manage female hypertension.

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  1. Women and Cardiovascular disease – 2022 – Eurohealth. (s. d.).
  2. Timmis, A., Townsend, N., Gale, C. P., Torbica, A., Lettino, M., Petersen, S. E., Mossialos, E., Maggioni, A. P., Kazakiewicz, D., May, H. T., De Smedt, D., Flather, M., Zühlke, L., Beltrame, J. F., Huculeci, R., Tavazzi, L., Hindricks, G., Bax, J. J., Casadei, B.,. . . Bardinet, I. (2019). European Society of Cardiology : Cardiovascular Disease Statistics 2019. European Heart Journal, 41(1), 12‑85.
  3. Woodward M. Cardiovascular Disease and the Female Disadvantage Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Apr; 16(7): 1165.
  4. Connelly PJ, Currie G, Delles C. Sex Differences in the Prevalence, Outcomes and Management of Hypertension. Curr Hypertens Rep. 2022 Jun;24(6):185-192. doi: 10.1007/s11906-022-01183-8. Epub 2022 Mar 7. PMID: 35254589; PMCID: PMC9239955.
  5. Valérie Olié, Clémence Grave, Gabet Amélie, Chatignoux Édouard, Gautier Arnaud, Bonaldi Christophe, Blacher Jacques. Bulletin épidémiologique hebdomadaire, 2023, n°. 8, p. 130-138.
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  7. Hongwei Ji, Teemu J. Niiranen, Florian Rader, Mir Henglin, Andy Kim, Joseph E. Ebinger, Brian Claggett, C. Noel Bairey Merz and Susan Cheng, Sex Differences in Blood Pressure Associations With Cardiovascular Outcomes, Circulation, 2021;143:761–763.
  8. Santangelo G, Bursi F, Faggiano A, Moscardelli S, Simeoli PS, Guazzi M, Lorusso R, Carugo S, Faggiano P. The Global Burden of Valvular Heart Disease: From Clinical Epidemiology to Management. J Clin Med. 2023 Mar 10;12(6):2178. doi: 10.3390/jcm12062178. PMID: 36983180; PMCID: PMC10054046.
  9. Dougherty AH. Gender balance in cardiovascular research: importance to women's health. Tex Heart Inst J. 2011;38(2):148-50. PMID: 21494523; PMCID: PMC3066814.
  10. Leopold, J.A., Antman, E.M. A precision medicine approach to sex-based differences in ideal cardiovascular health. Sci Rep 11, 14848 (2021).
  11. Worldwide trends in hypertension prevalence and progress in treatment and control from 1990 to 2019: a pooled analysis of 120population-representative studies with 104 million participants, Lancet 2021; 398: 957–80
  12. Mohseni-Alsalhi Z, Vesseur MAM, Wilmes N, Laven SAJS, Meijs DAM, van Luik EM, Vaes EWP, Dikovec CJR, Wiesenberg J, Almutairi MF, Janssen EBNJ, de Haas S, Spaanderman MEA, Ghossein-Doha C. The Representation of Females in Studies on Antihypertensive Medication over the Years: A Scoping Review. Biomedicines. 2023 May 12;11(5):1435.
  13. Wills AK, Lawlor DA, Matthews FE, Sayer AA, Bakra E, Ben-Shlomo Y, Benzeval M, Brunner E, Cooper R, Kivimaki M, et al. Life course trajectories of systolic blood pressure using longitudinal data from eight UK cohorts. PLoS Med. 2011;8:e1000440. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1000440.
  14. Ji H, Kim A, Ebinger JE, Niiranen TJ, Claggett BL, Bairey Merz CN, Cheng S. Sex differences in blood pressure trajectories over the life course. JAMA Cardiol. 2020;5:19–26. doi: 10.1001/jamacardio.2019.5306.
  15. Chapman N; Ching SM, Konradi AO; Nuyt AM; Khan T; Twumasi-Ankrah B; Cho EJ; Schutte AE; Touyz RM; Steckelings UM; Brewster LM. Arterial Hypertension in Women: State of the Art and Knowledge Gaps. Hypertension. 2023;80:1140–1149. DOI: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.122.20448
  16. Société Française d’HyperTension Artérielle (SFHTA), Consensus d’experts : HTA, hormones et femme, 2019.
  17. .C. McSweeney, M. Cody, P. O’Sullivan, K. Elberson, D.K. Moser, B.J. GarvinWomen’s early warning symptoms of acute myocardial infarctionCirculation, 108 (2003), pp. 2619-2623.