Women are often underrepresented in cardiac clinical trials—yet they are at least at equally high risk of death due to cardiovascular disease, and at higher risk of developing drug-induced heart complications compared to men. Clinical trials of medicines generally rely on electrocardiograms (EKG) to measure a patient’s heart’s response to a medicine and determine its safety, yet males and females have a number of differences in their heart physiology that are reflected in consistent variations in their EKGs. As a result, a drug that might appear to be safe in males may not be safe for females.
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Source: Phys.org