New Commentary in Women's Health Issues: Advancing Women’s Heart Health

WASHINGTON, DC (August 19, 2015) — Research and care for women’s heart health has improved substantially over the past three decades, but cardiovascular disease is still the top cause of death for US women. In a commentary published today in the journal Women’s Health Issues, Sharonne N. Hayes, MD and colleagues from the Scientific Advisory Council of WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women With Heart Disease explore the recent advances and key unanswered research questions for women’s cardiovascular health.

 

Women’s Health Issues is the official journal of the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health, which is based at the Milken Institute School of Public Health (Milken Institute SPH) at the George Washington University. The commentary, "Taking a Giant Step Toward Women’s Heart Health: Finding Policy Solutions to Unanswered Research Questions," has been published online ahead of print and will appear in the September/October edition of Women’s Health Issues. Susan F. Wood, PhD, executive director of the Jacobs Institute and associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Milken Institute SPH, is a co-author of the paper.

 

The authors recommend that policy change and research investment focus on answering three key questions, which address disparities in the occurrence and outcomes of cardiovascular disease in men and women; strategies to modify women’s risk of heart disease; and the biological variables that influence the development and outcomes of heart disease in women. These questions, they explain, will be central to the upcoming October 2015 National Policy & Science Summit on Cardiovascular Health, which WomenHeart is convening to bring together women with heart disease and leaders in women’s cardiovascular health. The goal, Hayes and her colleagues write, “is to develop a patient-centered holistic approach to sex- and gender-specific heart health that is supported by research and policies addressing women’s needs.”

 

About Women’s Health Issues:
Women's Health Issues is the official publication of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health, and the only journal devoted exclusively to women's health care and policy issues. The journal has a particular focus on women's issues in the context of the U.S. health care delivery system and policymaking processes, although it invites submissions addressing women's health care issues in global context if relevant to North American readers. It is a journal for health professionals, social scientists, policymakers, and others concerned with the complex and diverse facets of health care delivery and policy for women. For more information about the journal, please visit http://www.whijournal.com.

About Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University:
Established in July 1997 as the School of Public Health and Health Services, Milken Institute School of Public Health is the only school of public health in the nation’s capital. Today, more than 1,700 students from almost every U.S. state and 39 countries pursue undergraduate, graduate and doctoral-level degrees in public health. The school also offers an online Master of Public Health, MPH@GW, and an online Executive Master of Health Administration, MHA@GW, which allow students to pursue their degree from anywhere in the world.