SCAI and WIN Launch Women’s Health Initiative and Report on Gender Disparity in CVD Treatment

January 27, 2010—The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) announced the launch of "WINHeart—Score a WIN for Women," an initiative to raise awareness surrounding gender-based disparities in the diagnosis, treatment, and survival of women with cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Simultaneously, Women in Innovations (WIN), a group of interventional cardiologists within SCAI, released a new report and survey that illustrate why CVD is underrecognized and undertreated in women despite the near equivalence in rates of heart disease between men and women, and it highlights significant disparities in women's treatment and outcomes. One suspected reason for the disparity is that women account for only 20% to 25% of patients enrolled in most CVD clinical trials.

The report, "Gender-based issues in interventional cardiology: a consensus statement from the Women in Innovations (WIN) initiative," was published by Alaide Chieffo, MD, et al in Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions (2010;75:145–152). The report was also published internationally in EuroIntervention, Revista Española de Cardiología, and Cardiovascular Intervention and Therapeutics.

"The majority of data from clinical trials are based on a population of mostly male participants, and as a result, women are being treated according to data based on men," commented coauthor Roxana Mehran, MD, FSCAI. "With this information, it is not surprising that women’s outcomes are significantly worse than men's after treatment. What is surprising is that more is not being done to close this gap, which is what we seek to address through WINHeart."

Dr. Mehran will be discussing the WIN initiative in the March/April 2010 issue of Cardiac Interventions Today.

According to SCAI, the WINHeart survey included more than 300 respondents who are members of WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease and who are heart disease survivors. The survey found that 80% of women who had CVD never considered participating in clinical trials either because they were not aware that clinical trials were recruiting patients (50%), they were concerned about effects of treatment or lack of effects if given a placebo (31%), or there were logistical issues such as lack of transportation, geographic barriers, financial barriers, or lack of time (20%). In addition, only 10% of women said their physician spoke with them about participating in a clinical trial when they were first diagnosed with heart disease or a heart attack. The WIN initiative also reported that 33% of percutaneous coronary interventions are performed on women.

SCAI and WomenHeart are partnering in the WINHeart initiative to expand research and raise awareness surrounding the disparity in care for women with heart disease.

"As a physician and a woman, it’s alarming that so many women are not aware that heart disease is their number one killer in America," stated coauthor Bonnie Weiner, MD, FSCAI. "Women tend to be less aware of symptoms, and subsequently, see their doctor much later than they should, which unfortunately results in poorer outcomes and fewer treatment options. A key concern for us is to better ensure that women know the signs and symptoms of a heart attack, including atypical symptoms specific to women."

WIN plans to address the issues identified in the report and survey by launching and facilitating women’s enrollment in clinical trials to further explore the differences in women’s outcomes with heart disease. Additionally, the organization plans to enhance resources for health care providers who treat women with heart disease and educate the public about America’s number one killer of both women and men.