“Heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases kill more women than the next five causes of death combined.” This article by Dr. Rita Redberg addresses the progress made recently in the study of cardiovascular disease in women. It serves to introduce a series of scientific articles on that subject in the Expert Review of Cardiovascular Therapy Journal.

Recent advances have been made on the care of pregnant women with congenital heart disease, a growing issue since more women with congenital heart disease are living to childbearing age. Registries are being developed of women with this problem in order to collect data and to advance treatment.

Women continue to have a high risk of venous thromboembolism while taking oral hormonal contraceptives, in spite of changes made in drug composition and dosage form.

“Prevention remains the foundation of our strategies to reduce heart disease in women.” Lifestyle changes, such as diet, exercise, and not smoking, can do a great deal to reduce cardiovascular disease risk in women.

Progress has been made with an increase in sex-specific studies of cardiovascular disease in women. These studies are important in learning if the same treatments should be used for women that are used for men. At present, only about 24% of studies report sex-specific results. At this point, there have been examples of treatments beneficial to men which did not work for women.

CONCLUSION: Advances have been made in the knowledge of treatment of cardiovascular disease in women, but some progress will depend on the political will of the government with regard to the HEART* bill.

NOTE: *We are researching the progress of the proposed HEART legislation which addresses the issue of sex-specific scientific research. It passed the House of Representatives in 2010, but it has not yet been passed in the Senate.

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To read the author’s abstract of the article, click on the title of the article. Then, to read the full article, click on the full text icon.

PMID: 20136598.

Summary #749.