GENESIS PRAXY (GENdEr and Sex DetermInantS of Cardiovascular Disease: From Bench to Beyond PRemature Acute Coronary SYndrome)

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in most industrialized countries, including Canada. Although only approximately 10% of heart attacks occur in individuals younger than 50 years of age, the incidence of early heart attacks has been increasing in recent years, with significant clinical, psychosocial and public health implications. Furthermore, men have heart attacks more often than women in younger ages; the reasons are not clear. The sex (referring to biological differences, as determined by anatomical and hormonal profiles) and gender (referring to masculine or feminine characteristics as delineated by the society and culture) differences of early occurrence of heart attacks and their impact on prognosis and access to care have not been systematically studied. We will conduct a large, multi-centre, comprehensive study - the GENESIS PRAXY (GENdEr and Sex DetermInantS of Cardiovascular Disease: From Bench to Beyond PRemature Acute Coronary Syndrome). We aim to explore sex differences in key factors (behavioural, environmental, psychosocial, clinical, biological and genetic) of the presentation and the prognosis of early heart attacks, as well as differences in health services utilization, satisfaction and quality of life. For this reason we will study over 1500 women and men 18-50 years of age with heart attacks across the country. The findings will be shared with health professionals and patients to increase awareness. We anticipate that the findings of this study will lead to better assessment of risk for and prevention of heart attacks in young adults, as well as improved care of this devastating disease.