HALIFAX -- Many women in Canada aren’t aware of their risk for cardiovascular disease, according to a review published Monday by the Canadian Women’s Heart Health Alliance and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.

Despite a recent push to raise awareness for women’s cardiovascular health, like the Wear Red campaign, heart disease is still the leading cause of premature death for women in Canada. Experts say although research and awareness is gaining momentum, there’s still a lot that needs to be done.

Published in the Journal of American Heart Association Go Red issue, the paper says cardiovascular disease in women is often under-diagnosed, under-treated, under-supported, under-researched, and many women in Canada are under-aware of the risks. While there have been many studies specific to women’s heart health in recent years, they’ve often put a focus on the current state of women’s cardiovascular disease in the United States, leading to a lack of understanding of the current outlook in Canada.

The latest paper was co-written by more than 30 authors, including Halifax cardiologist Dr. Sharon Mulvagh. She appeared on CTV Morning Live Thursday and says more focus needs to be put on the inequality of heart health research.

“For a long time, in our education, as physicians and healthcare providers, it was classically a man’s disease,” she says. “If you look at case scenarios it’s ‘he’ -- it’s not really mentioned as ‘she’ many times. Women actually have equal opportunity in dying from cardiovascular disease and what’s even worse is that the outcome is worse for women … it’s really quite significant.”

As of 2016, the top three cardiovascular-disease-related causes of death for women in the country are IHD (Ischemic Heart Disease), stroke, and heart failure. According to Statistics Canada, the highest rates for all three were reported in Quebec. In Atlantic Canada, high rates of IHD were reported.

A recent national study revealed most women in Canada are naive when it comes to symptoms, risk factors, and their own personal risk status.

Two-thousand Canadian women, of various ages, races, ethnicity, and locations, were asked about their overall understanding -- 28 per cent of them knew that heart disease and stroke were the leading cause of death in women worldwide, and 48 per cent knew that nine in 10 women have at least one risk factor. Among the women surveyed between the ages of 19 and 29, 37 per cent believed that heart disease could be different between women and men – that’s compared to 67 per cent of women surveyed between 50 and 69 years old.

Mulvagh says that over 80 per cent of heart disease is preventable, and that all women should avoid smoking, and be active and healthy. They should also be aware of their blood pressure, cholesterol, weight and blood sugar, whether they are diabetic or not.

The publication also goes on to say several things must change before equality for women’s cardiovascular health will happen in Canada -- including research, changes to clinical guidelines and health policies, training health care providers, and more overall awareness.

Two thirds of heart disease research is focused on men -- despite the disease impacting half of Canada’s population, killing 32,000 women a year.