Streisand Speaks Out on Women and Heart Disease

This week, Barbara Streisand published an article highlighting the gross inequities in heart disease. We would like to thank her for her statement. Unfortunately, heart disease is not the only condition that affects women disproportionately or differently from men.

Before 1990, women were not included in medical research and clinical trials, and to almost everyone women’s health meant reproductive health. After the establishment of the Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR) in 1990 and legislation that required the inclusion of women in research studies, we have learned that biological sex must be considered in all phases of medical research and in clinical care.

For example, women may have different symptoms when experiencing a heart attack and women are more likely than men to have a second heart attack within a year of the first one. Lung cancer, autoimmune disorders, drug and alcohol addiction, osteoporosis, pain conditions, stroke, and depression are but a few of the conditions that effect women differently; and the differences influence the methods of prevention and diagnosis, the symptoms and the treatment options.

SWHR advocates for greater research into sex differences and increasing the number of women and minorities in clinical trials to better treat these debilitating diseases.

With the help of celebrities such as Barbara Streisand more people will become aware of the inequities in medical research and health care and support increased funding for sex differences research. For more information on biological differences that affect our health, please visit www.swhr.org. Click here to read Ms. Streisand's article.