Cardiovascular disease affects more women than all forms of cancer combined. It is the leading cause of death, killing one in three women annually. It is also responsible for more than 30% of maternal deaths.
But when women seek treatment for heart conditions, they often receive care based on studies conducted on men.
“The need to improve cardiovascular care outcomes for women is probably one of the most pressing health issues worldwide — and certainly in the U.S. and India,” Sandeep Gupta says.
Gupta is a professor of computer science and engineering in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. He also heads the Intelligent Mobile & Pervasive Applications & Communication Technologies Lab, known as the IMPACT Lab, where he is working with Ayan Banerjee, a Fulton Schools research associate professor.
The pair is exploring applications of artificial intelligence, or AI, in the medical sector. They have received multiple grants, including from the National Science Foundation, to develop tech tools to improve treatment options for women.
Gupta explains that for decades the medical sector believed men were predominantly at risk for heart attacks and coronary conditions. Doctors — and female patients themselves — lack essential information about preventive care for women. Life-saving medications, such as statins, were developed using clinical trials that largely recruited pools of male subjects. Women more frequently suffer from adverse reactions to these drugs.
This approach created a world where women are less likely to suffer from heart disease but are far more likely to die from it.
“But AI holds great promise to revolutionize women’s health care by moving from a one-size-fits-all approach to personalized and precision medicine,” Gupta says.
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