Karachi: Pakistani women have the highest age-standardised death rate from ischemic heart disease among five South Asian countries, with hypertension, diabetes, obesity and physical inactivity emerging as major risk factors, health experts warned on Monday.
The experts were speaking at a press conference organised by PharmEvo in Karachi to launch its ‘Her Heart Matters’ campaign on World Heart Day 2026, in collaboration with the Pakistan Cardiac Society (PCS), Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Pakistan (SOGP), Pakistan Society of Internal Medicine (PSIM) and Go Red for Women.
The nationwide initiative focuses on cardiovascular health among women through screening, awareness and education for patients and healthcare professionals, with activities planned across the country to promote early identification of cardiovascular risks and timely intervention.
Cardiologists, physicians and gynaecologists said women’s heart disease remained under-recognised due to misconceptions, inadequate screening and poor follow-up during and after pregnancy.
Prof Dr Mansoor Ahmed, Professor of Cardiology at Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases, said the longstanding perception that women did not develop heart disease had been disproved.
He said women often placed their own health behind household responsibilities, while diabetes, hypertension and obesity further increased their cardiovascular risk. Regular screening was essential for women with these conditions to detect heart disease before serious complications developed.
Prof Dr Tazeen Abbas, Secretary General of SOGP, said women’s cardiovascular health required attention during pregnancy, after childbirth and following menopause.
She said some women stopped prescribed medicines during pregnancy or discontinued blood pressure treatment after childbirth without consulting their doctors. She advised women to seek medical advice for adjusting medicines rather than stopping treatment on their own.
She also highlighted the risks associated with pregnancy-related hypertension, pregnancy-associated cardiomyopathy, anaemia and closely spaced pregnancies, stressing the importance of family planning, adequate birth spacing and continued medical follow-up.
Prof Dr Halima Yasmeen, Chairperson and Head of Department at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and Executive Member of SOGP, said heart disease had been detected in around four per cent of pregnant women screened at her clinical service.
She said pregnancy provided an important opportunity to identify hypertension and previously undiagnosed heart disease, adding that women with cardiac problems required coordinated care involving obstetricians, physicians and cardiologists during pregnancy and after delivery.
Prof Dr Shabnam Naveed, Head of Medicine at JPMC and Jinnah Sindh Medical University, said inadequate screening was a major barrier to preventing cardiovascular disease among women.
She said more than 90 per cent of women attending the diabetes clinic at JPMC had cardiovascular risk factors, noting that although the figure represented a high-risk hospital population, it demonstrated the close association between diabetes, hypertension, obesity and heart disease.
Pakistan Cardiac Society General Secretary Prof Dr Fawad Farooq identified stress as another important contributor to cardiovascular disease and encouraged women to incorporate walking and other physical activities into their daily routines.
He said specialised cardiac hospitals were receiving large numbers of patients with heart attacks and chest pain due to the absence of an effective primary and secondary cardiovascular care network.
‘Specialised hospitals alone cannot manage Pakistan’s growing cardiovascular burden,’ he said, adding that some patients stopped taking prescribed medicines within weeks of undergoing angioplasty, increasing the risk of further complications.
Prof Dr Fawad stressed the need for stronger primary healthcare, proper follow-up and adherence to prescribed medicines to prevent recurrent heart attacks and reduce the burden on tertiary-care hospitals.
The experts referred to a 2026 study published in JACC: Asia, which compared Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan using Global Burden of Disease estimates.
The study identified high blood pressure and diets low in vegetables and fibre among the leading contributors to heart disease deaths among Pakistani women.
Samar Iqbal Jafri, Director Marketing and Sales at PharmEvo, said the company’s Discovering Diabetes and Discovering Hypertension initiatives were helping identify people who remained unaware of their conditions.
He said the ‘Her Heart Matters’ campaign would focus specifically on women’s cardiovascular health and bring medical societies together to promote screening, prevention and timely treatment.