Status of Women in Cardiovascular Clinical Trials

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the most common cause of death in American women and accounts for a full one-third of all deaths.1 Although the common perception may be that CVD affects mainly men, there is equal prevalence of this disease between the genders by the age of 40, and by the age of 60 more women than men are affected. More women than men have died from CVD causes on a yearly basis since the mid 1980s, and whereas the CVD mortality has steadily declined in men over the past 30 years, it has remained steady in women until very recently when CVD mortality was noted to decrease for both genders.2 See accompanying article on page 277 The impact of cardiovascular disease (CVD) on the health status of American women is gaining more recognition and has become the focus of public education efforts such as the “Go Red for Women” campaign sponsored by the American Heart Association and the “Red Dress” project sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI). These programs are, in part, a response to the increasing awareness of cardiovascular disease as a major source of morbidity and mortality in U.S. women. The importance of CVD as a major source of mortality in women was recognized early on by federally funded institutes including the Public Health Service Task Force, which brought attention to concerns about the health information available to women and the historical lack of research focus on women’s health in its 1985 Report of the Public Health Service Task Force on Women’s Health Issues .3 In response to this report, the National Institutes of Health adopted a policy for the inclusion of women in clinical research …