Women and Heart Disease
The references we will be using were published in Circulation v 109, starting with page e44 (2004) - They constitute a report of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Workshop that took place between October 2 to 4, 2002. The workshop was titled "Womens' Ischemic Syndrome Evaluation". For the web definition of "Ischemic" Click Here. It refers to a lowering of blood flow that in the case of ischemic heart disease, could lead to a heart attack. The declared purpose of the workshop was to "examine the nature and scope of gender differences in both chronic and acute cardiac ischemia, in terms of clinical manifestations, detection and treatment". ("Chronic" implies an ongoing illness, and "acute" implies a sudden event).
It is beyond our scope to deal with all the details presented. The journal articles are available on line. The articles contain the following topics:
Section 1: Diagnosis of Stable Ischemia and Ischemic Heart Disease
Section 2: Stable Ischemia: Pathophysiology and Gender Differences
Section 3: Diagnosis and Treatment of Acute Cardiac Ischemia: Gender Issues
Section 4: Lessons From Hormone Replacement Trials
Section 5: Gender-Related Risk Factors for Ischemic Heart Disease
Section 6: Key Messages About Acute Ischemic Heart Disease in Women and Recommendations for Practice
Perspective: New Frontiers in Detection of Ischemic Heart Disease in Women
Executive Summary
In the following pages, we will summarize some of the conclusions.