POLICY ENGAGEMENT, CALL TO ACTION
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both women and men in the United States, resulting in one in every five deaths. In 2021, about 695,000 people died of heart disease. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated what was already considered a public health crisis of heart health. According to a study from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, by the second year of the pandemic, heart attack deaths increased by almost 30% for adults ages 25-44, almost 20% for adults ages 45-64, and by almost 14% for adults ages 65 and older.
Despite decades of progress, the heart health landscape in the United States is fraught with persistent challenges, spanning challenges with public and provider education, to research gaps, to barriers to accessing care.
The Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR) created the SWHR Policy Agenda: Improving Women’s Heart Health Outcomes Across the Lifespan to discuss policy needs and opportunities in women’s heart health. Insights for the policy agenda were informed by SWHR’s Heart Health Policy Working Group convening in September 2023.
In 2023, SWHR began the the Read My Lip(id)s campaign to raise awareness about the risk factors for heart disease and how getting regular cholesterol screening—specifically, lipid panel testing—can empower women to understand their risk and take charge of their heart health.
SWHR launched its latest policy agenda, "Improving Women's Heart Health Outcomes Across the Lifespan," informed by an interdisciplinary Heart Health Policy Working Group of policy professionals, researchers, clinicians, and patient advocates.
To offer solutions and bring attention to IHD and American Heart Month this February, SWHR has released a resource spotlighting actions to address gaps in heart health education for women across the lifespan.
The importance of preventative health care for women was reiterated time and time again throughout the SWHR Value of Diagnostics within Women’s Health virtual public forum series this year.
SWHR's working group on women’s heart health discussed how women are continually overlooked in heart health research and clinical care and how to address these gaps.
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