Our Research

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – Women and Heart Disease, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in women in the United States. Despite this fact, it is widely perceived as primarily a men’s disease. This misunderstanding has prevented U.S. women from realizing that cardiovascular disease is their number one health threat

Based on the NHLBI article on Coronary Heart Disease, coronary heart disease impacts women differently because of biological, hormonal, and systemic factors. Women have smaller hearts, slimmer heart walls, and a bigger likelihood of growing coronary microvascular disease in tinier arteries, which makes diagnosis more complex and delays treatment. Estrogen gives some protection before menopause, but risk rises with age, early menopause, or using hormone replacement therapies. Women’s symptoms also often contrast from men’s. 

Their chest pain is more frequently triggered by daily activities instead of physical exercise. Additionally, reproductive health milestones like preeclampsia and PCOS introduce female-specific risk factors. Compounding these physical differences, women deal with widespread healthcare disparities, including lower rates of diagnostic consultations, longer waits for emergency testing, and a much higher risk of misdiagnosis. 

The menopause transition represents an important midlife period where women’s cardiovascular disease risk accelerates. After 20 years of prolonged data tracking women through the menopause transition, researchers have effectively separated the independent health effects of chronological aging from ovarian aging. These studies show us that the hormonal changes of menopause provoke harmful changes in vascular health, lipid levels, and body composition, which significantly raise postmenopausal cardiovascular risk. (El Khoudary et al., 2020)