The Challenges to Treating Cardiovascular Disease in Women

Problem Statement

Since 1984, more American women have died annually from cardiovascular disease than men. In America, heart disease is the leading cause of mortality in both men and women. As such, investigating the factors contributing to the mortality gap is a public health concern. A list of factors deemed influential by various independent research organizations follows:

1. The lack of sex-specific analysis and reporting on sex-specific results
2. The general lack of awareness about cardiovascular disease in women
3. The lack of sex-specific diagnostic testing
4. The treatment of cardiovascular disease in women

On the non-clinical end, lack of awareness about the sex-specific symptoms of cardiovascular disease is a commonly cited contributor to the problem. However, there was a near doubling of the rate of awareness of heart disease as the leading cause of death in women between 1997 (when the AHA launched its first campaign for women) and 2009; during that same period, the death rate resulting from cardiovascular disease decreased by nearly half.

The bigger problem is the lack of sex-specific research on cardiovascular disease. A study found that only 25% of trials of cardiovascular disease report on sex-specific results. This applies not only to the biology behind the disease, but also to the social and cultural factors affecting the disease. For example, extent to which physician behaviors, patient behaviors, and environmental factors explain non-adherence is not established. Additionally, there is no formal benchmark for the rigor in studies of cardiovascular disease. Whether we can draw conclusions from cohort studies is a long disputed topic and the copious amounts of cohort studies of cardiovascular disease are no exception.