Four medical organizations have published a trio of reports aimed at improving female heart health.The recommendations include a comprehensive plan to prevent and manage cardiovascular disease across all stages of the female life span.The organizations say that females have unique biological components that can make their risk of heart disease higher than that of males.<\/p>\n
A quartet of medical organizations has published a comprehensive set of reports calling for a coordinated plan of action to improve heart healthcare for women throughout their lifetimes.<\/p>\n
The reports detail how cardiovascular health issues can be prevented, monitored, and treated from the early years of menstruation to peak fertility age to pregnancy to perimenopause to postmenopause stages.<\/p>\n
The report authors call for healthcare professionals to identify heart health risks early in girls and women and to coordinate care across medical specialties.<\/p>\n
They stress that females have specific biological factors that increase their risks of cardiovascular disease. Those components include hormonal and emotional factors.<\/p>\n
The authors note that heart disease is the number one cause of death<\/a> for females in the United States, as well as the number one cause of death during pregnancy. Yet, only 44% of females are fully aware of the dangers they face from heart disease.<\/p>\n The organizations issuing the reports are the American Heart Association (AHA), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine.<\/p>\n The groups presented their findings in a trio of reports published in the AHA\u2019s flagship journal, Circulation<\/a> on October 26.<\/p>\n \u201cWomen experience their healthcare across clinical specialties, but it often is fragmented or disconnected,\u201d said Sadiya Khan<\/a>, MD, the chair of the collaborative writing group for the reports and a professor of cardiovascular epidemiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, in a news release<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cSpecifically, these reports connect the dots for clinicians, for patients, and across health domains so that care is holistic and begins in adolescence, recognizing that women\u2019s heart health is uniquely shaped by biological transitions not experienced by men \u2014 periods, pregnancy, perimenopause, and menopause.\u201d<\/p>\n Experts not involved in the reports told Healthline the updates were a long time coming.<\/p>\n Nicole Weinberg<\/a>, MD, a cardiologist at Pacific Heart Institute\u2019s Women\u2019s Heart Center in Santa Monica, California, said the reports present a positive framework for women\u2019s health.<\/p>\n \u201cWomen have unique cardiovascular risk factors<\/a> related to pregnancy and menopause, and certain traditional risk factors, including diabetes, may increase their risk of heart disease more significantly than they do in men,\u201d noted Nissi Suppogu<\/a>, MD, a cardiologist and medical director of the Women\u2019s Heart Center at MemorialCare Heart & Vascular Institute at Long Beach Medical Center in California.<\/p>\n \u201cRecognizing these differences is essential to identifying women at risk earlier, improving prevention strategies and ensuring they receive appropriate treatment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI am incredibly excited to see these new reports on women\u2019s heart health,\u201d added Svati Shah<\/a>, MD, the president-elect of the AHA, as well as the associate dean of Translational Research and the director of Precision Genomics Collaboratory in the Duke School of Medicine in North Carolina.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are a call to action for increasing education, research, and coordinated clinical care for women\u2019s heart health,\u201d Shah said.<\/p>\n The organizations spelled out their recommendations in three reports.<\/p>\n The first report is a presidential advisory<\/a> that lays out a \u201cfemale-specific life course approach to the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease.\u201d<\/p>\n In it, the authors state that \u201cgirls and women uniquely experience fragmented care\u201d across medical fields, including pediatrics, obstetrics, and gynecology.<\/p>\n The authors call for a \u201cunified life course approach that addresses the female-specific interconnectedness of hormonal, psychosocial, and cardiovascular health.\u201d<\/p>\n This report breaks down the life cycle for girls and women into five stages.<\/p>\n Perimenarche: The transition around the first menstrual period. Age range of 8 to 15 years.Ovarian cycling: Regular ovarian and hormone cycles are established, and pregnancy typically occurs. Age range: 15 to 44 years.Perimenopause: The transition to variable cycle length, skipped cycles, and hormone changes. The estimated age range is around 45 to 51 years.Postmenopause: The years that begin after menopause or 12 months after the final menstrual period<\/a>. Age range is 51 years and older.Pregnancy: The time before, during, and after pregnancy.<\/p>\n \u201cEmerging data suggest that unique biologic transitions or life stages experienced by girls and women are linked with changes in [cardiovascular disease] risk, which may be due in part to physiologic changes in sex hormones,\u201d the authors wrote.<\/p>\n Weinberg said this life-stage breakdown is important, especially for risk reduction.<\/p>\n She said issues with menstruation during the teen years may be a harbinger of heart health problems later in life. The same is true for health issues during pregnancy, especially high blood pressure<\/a> or high blood sugar levels.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to be aware of these heart disease risks so we\u2019re not caught by surprise 10 to 20 years down the road,\u201d Weinberg said.<\/p>\n Suppogu agreed. \u201cMedical professionals should emphasize that heart health is a lifelong priority and prevention should begin early. Encourage girls and women to establish healthy habits, understand their cardiovascular risk factors, and maintain regular checkups, even when they feel healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWomen\u2019s heart health has a unique constellation of risk factors and manifestations that are shaped by biological transitions that vary across a woman\u2019s lifetime,\u201d said Shah.<\/p>\n The second report is a science advisory<\/a> that recommends a comprehensive plan for women\u2019s cardiovascular care.<\/p>\n In it, the authors call for a system that \u201cintegrates assessment of hormonal, psychosocial, and cardiovascular health across life stages.\u201d<\/p>\n They propose a \u201cnational infrastructure\u201d of centers that would coordinate clinical care, education, training, research, and community engagement around women\u2019s heart health.<\/p>\n \u201cThese centers can reduce fragmentation, enhance earlier risk identification, and expand opportunities to increase representation of women in clinical research,\u201d the authors wrote. \u201cIn doing so, they offer a bold opportunity for a scalable and equitable model to improve cardiovascular health for all women.\u201d<\/p>\n To illustrate their point, the authors noted that only about 60% of women with hypertensive disorders during pregnancy in the United States have a follow-up visit with a healthcare professional about their condition within the first 6 months after giving birth.<\/p>\n \u201cGiven that pregnancy is a cardiovascular stress test<\/a> and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are risk-enhancing factors for long-term [cardiovascular disease] risk, this represents a major missed opportunity to address cardiovascular risk,\u201d the authors wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cPregnancy and the postpartum period<\/a> are important windows into cardiovascular health throughout the life course,\u201d said William Grobman<\/a>, MD, the vice-chair of the writing group for these reports and a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, in the press release.<\/p>\n \u201cAn adverse pregnancy outcome can unmask increased cardiovascular risk, and that information should guide care well beyond pregnancy,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n The third report is a scientific statement<\/a> that suggests a \u201cconsensus guideline for the female-specific prevention and management of cardiovascular disease.\u201d<\/p>\n In it, the authors state that there is \u201cgrowing recognition that the optimal prevention and management of cardiovascular disease in girls and women requires attention to sex-specific considerations relevant to the interconnected domains of hormonal, psychosocial, and cardiovascular health across the life course.\u201d<\/p>\n The authors note several age-related warning signs of heart issues. These are spelled out in the AHA press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n Menstrual cycle patterns can be markers of heart health, including an early warning sign for cardiovascular risk, such as polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS)<\/a>.Pregnancy history is heart history, as pregnancy complications<\/a> such as high blood pressure<\/a> and preeclampsia<\/a> can be recognized as female-specific heart health risk enhancers.Perimenopause<\/a> can be a cardiovascular inflection point due to changes in cholesterol <\/a>and metabolic health.Postmenopause is an important time for cardiovascular disease prevention, as most heart attack, stroke, and heart failure events in women occur in this stage.Psychosocial health is important for heart health, as women are more likely to experience anxiety<\/a>, depression<\/a>, and eating disorders<\/a>, each of which can contribute to poor heart health.<\/p>\n Females comprise around half the population<\/a>, and their cardiovascular health \u201cmust be a part of everyday care across medicine,\u201d said Mariell Jessup<\/a>, MD, the chief science and medical officer of the American Heart Association, in the press release. \u201cThese publications give clinicians and health systems a shared foundation for recognizing risk throughout a woman\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n The organization also predicted that 25% of U.S. women will have diabetes<\/a> and 60% will have obesity<\/a> by that year if current trends continue.<\/p>\n The authors of that report listed several steps they said could reverse these trends. Among them:<\/p>\n Healthy choices should be provided in schools, community centers, pediatric clinics, and gynecology offices.Health providers should prioritize long-term plans for managing chronic conditions in women, such as high blood pressure.Treatment plans for long-term conditions such as atrial fibrillation (AFib)<\/a> and heart failure<\/a> should include factors unique to females.<\/p>\n Experts say women can also take action on their own to reduce their risks. Suppogu suggests the following:<\/p>\n Follow a heart-healthy Mediterranean-style dietGet at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each weekMaintain a healthy weightManage blood pressure and blood glucoseMonitor cholesterol levelsAvoid smokingGet at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night<\/p>\n