March 20, 2002
Women Still Face Inequality in Diagnosis,
Treatment And Clinical Studies of Heart Disease
National Expert in Women's Cardiovascular Care at Penn
Discusses Medical Matters of the Heart at the National
American College of Cardiology Annual Meeting
When it comes
to heart disease, women still face discrimination in
the way the illness is diagnosed and treated, as well
as in epidemiological studies that form the basis for
disease treatment strategies, according to a national
expert in women 's cardiovascular medicine at the University
of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Mariell Jessup, MD, Director of Women's Cardiovascular
Health at Penn, spoke on the status of heart failure
in women at the national meeting of the American College
of Cardiology in Atlanta, which draws 30,000 participants
annually.
"Women make up half of the 4.7 million Americans
with heart failure, but they suffered 62.3 percent of
the heart-failure fatalities last year," Jessup
said. "In fact, 20 percent of all women diagnosed
with heart failure die within a year, and fewer than
15 percent of women survive more than eight to 12 years
after the initial diagnosis. Research also indicates
that, in general, women with heart failure have a poorer
quality of life than men."
Further, in reviewing recent major epidemiological studies,
Jessup found "there are important baseline differences
by gender" in patients who were randomly selected
to participate in the well-known 'BEST' heart failure
study, which was one of the largest clinical trials
ever designed to focus on advanced heart failure. Those
gender differences, which included age, race and cigarette
smoking histories, "are known to influence mortality
in heart failure," Jessup says.
Jessup has also found the percentage of women participants
in numerous other scientific studies was significantly
lower than 50 percent, despite the fact that women make
up more than half the population.
"In addition to assuring baseline equity, scientists
have to make sure they include a representative proportion
of women in their research," Jessup says. "These
are issues that medical professionals, from general
practitioners to clinical researchers, must address
for purposes of accuracy and effectiveness as a well
as equality in medical care."
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The University of Pennsylvania Health System is distinguished
not only by its historical significance -- first hospital
(1751), first medical school (1765), first university
teaching hospital (1874), first fully integrated academic
health system (1993) -- but by its leadership in the
practice of medicine in the 21st Century. Among all
American medical schools, Penn ranks second in funding
from the National Institutes of Health, perhaps the
single most important barometer of research strength.
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