The Truth About Women’s Heart Health | Dr. Martha Gulati

The Dr. Gabrielle Lyon Show

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon

Medicine, Science, Health & Fitness, Life Sciences

4.6 • 911 Ratings

🗓️ 22 July 2025

⏱️ 98 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women—yet it's still treated like a man’s disease. In this powerful conversation, Dr. Martha Gulati, a cardiologist and pioneer in women’s cardiovascular health, exposes the systemic gaps that leave women underdiagnosed, undertreated, and often unheard. Together, we unpack the critical differences in how heart disease presents in women, why standard diagnostic tools fall short, and what every woman needs to know about risk factors like pregnancy complications, hormone therapy, statin use, and even environmental exposures. Dr. Gulati also reveals the truth behind hormone therapy myths, explains how soft plaque really forms, and why fitness should be considered frontline prevention.

You’ll learn:

Why women’s heart symptoms are often mistaken for anxiety
What tests to ask for to asses your risk of heart disease
How statins, hormone therapy, and fitness interact with risk
What the new “Prevent" risk score includes—and why it matters
Why women get more benefits from exercise than men
How pollution, stress, and pregnancy complications shape long-term risk

Whether you’re in your 20s or postmenopausal, this episode will empower you to take charge of your heart health, ask better questions, and get the care you deserve.

Who is Dr. Martha Gulati?

Dr. Martha Gulati is a professor of cardiology at the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai, where she serves as Director of Prevention and Associate Director of the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center. She is the immediate past president of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology and previously served as the inaugural Chief of Cardiology at the University of Arizona. A leading voice in women’s heart health, Dr. Gulati chaired the first national chest pain guidelines and is the author of the best-selling book Saving Women’s Hearts.

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Find Dr. Martha Gulati At:

Website - https://drmarthagulati.com/
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/martha-gulati-9b410496/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/drmarthagulati/
X/Twitter - https://x.com/drmarthagulati
Cedars-Sinai - https://www.cedars-sinai.org/provider/martha-gulati-2036029.html
Her book Saving Women's Hearts: https://www.amazon.ca/Saving-Womens-Hearts-Conventional-Strategies/dp/0470678453

Find Me At:

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Most people worry more about breast cancer than heart disease.
0:04.0	But here's what almost no one tells you.
0:07.0	You're 10 times more likely to die from a heart condition than from breast cancer.
0:13.0	And if you're a woman having chest pain, you'll wait longer in the ER,
0:17.0	be less likely to get an EKG, and more likely to be sent home undiagnosed.
0:23.6	And you are 10 times more likely as a woman to die from heart disease than you are from breast cancer.
0:30.6	Heart disease is the number one killer of women. But we're still using diagnostic tools,
0:36.6	risk scores, and treatment protocols designed
0:40.3	for men.
0:41.3	First, that every woman needs to be on HRT, that is not true. And secondly, that it will cure
0:47.3	heart disease. And thirdly, that it can replace your statin.
0:51.3	Today, we are setting the record straight.
0:54.8	I am joined by Dr. Martha Gulati,
0:57.3	a globally recognized leader in women's cardiovascular health,
1:01.8	former president of the American Society
1:04.6	for Preventive Cardiology, and the mind behind
1:08.1	some of the most important advances
1:10.6	in female- specific heart research.
1:12.6	The more physically fit you are, the longer you live, independent of all your other cardiac risk factors.
1:17.6	So it's an independent predictor of both cardiovascular mortality, dying from heart disease, or dying from any cause.
1:25.6	So exercise is medicine we'll talk
1:28.1	about why women's heart attack symptoms often get missed the real link between
	...

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