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(Circulation. 2004;109:e158-e160.)
© 2004 American Heart Association, Inc.

Cardiology Patient Page

Heart Disease Prevention in Women

Lori Mosca, MD, PhD

From Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY.

Correspondence to Lori Mosca, MD, PhD, Director, Preventive Cardiology, New York Presbyterian Hospital, 622 W 168th St, New York, NY 10032-3720. E-mail ljm10@columbia.edu

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

A recent national study conducted by the American Heart Association showed that fewer than 50% of American women know that heart disease is their leading killer. The study included more than 1000 women from many different racial and ethnic backgrounds. More women in this study knew that heart disease was women’s leading killer than in similar studies conducted in 1997 and 2000, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement.

Cardiovascular disease—the No. 1 cause of death in the United States—claims the lives of almost 500 000 women each year. That’s nearly one death every minute. Being aware of the risk of heart disease is important because it’s the first step in taking action to lower risk.

Because heart disease can often be prevented, the survey findings are an urgent call to action. The American Heart Association and 11 other leading national health organizations came together to develop comprehensive guidelines for heart disease prevention in women. They include a rating scale to express the strength of recommendations and the quality of research to support specific preventive therapies.

Each recommendation was categorized to help doctors and women decide which preventive therapies should or should not be used. A Class I category indicates that the type of therapy should be provided routinely. Class IIa indicates that most scientific evidence favors providing the type of therapy, whereas Class IIb indicates the usefulness of therapy is less well-established. Class III indicates that the type of therapy isn’t useful and may be harmful.

Being . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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