Applying research advances to improve cardiovascular health in women

Cardiovascular disease remains the main cause of death among women, but evidence-based advances are enhancing clinical care in seven key areas, improving the lives of women living with and at risk for heart disease. A review of recent advances in research and clinical guidelines, and recommendations for medical practice, clinical research, and policy that can help further reduce morbidity and mortality due to cardiovascular disease are featured in an article in Journal of Women's Health.

Pejman Raeisi-Giglou, DO, Eileen Hsich, MD, and colleagues from the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (OH), Rush University Medical Center (Chicago, IL), WomenHeart (Washington, DC), and University of California, Davis coauthored the article "Advances in Cardiovascular Health in Women over the Past Decade: Guideline Recommendations for Practice." They discuss research and clinical advances across several aspects of cardiovascular disease (CVD): primary CVD prevention and community heart care; secondary prevention of CVD, stroke, and heart failure; and cardiomyopathies, ischemia with nonobstructive coronary artery disease, spontaneous coronary artery dissection, and arrhythmias and device therapies.

"In this informative review of the impact of evidence-based medical research on cardiovascular health in women over the last 10 years, Hsich et al. emphasize the importance of increased awareness, partnership with national organizations, sex-specific research, and changes in policy going forward to achieve continued progress," says Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Women's Health, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women's Health.