Clear evidence exists that women are not being treated aggressively to prevent heart disease, the panel reported. For example, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recent National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey showed healthcare professionals counsel women less often than men about exercise, nutrition, and weight reduction.
There are alarming trends in the prevalence and management of risk factors in women. The prevalence of obesity in American women is increasing. About 25 percent of woman report no regular sustained physical activity. Also, smoking rates are declining less for woman than for men.
"The problem may result in part from the perception that these recommendations for reducing risk factors apply to men and may not apply to women," says Mosca. "Thus, the consensus panel's goal was to highlight the most important strategies for lowering heart disease risk in women."
Some of the panel's recommendations reflect new scientific knowledge, such as the findings from the Heart and Estrogen/Progestin Replacement Study (HERS), which found that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) did not significantly benefit women with diagnosed heart disease, and from studies that suggest women with high blood levels of cholesterol may benefit as much or even more than men by taking one of the statin drugs.
Previous recommendations of the National Cholesterol Education Program suggest that HRT be considered as the initial drug therapy for lowering high cholesterol in postmenopausal women if lifestyle changes, such as switching to a low-fat diet, do not prove effective. The panel now recommends that a statin drug be considered instead of HRT as the first line of drug therapy.
"Statin drugs have been scientifically proven to lower high blood levels
of cholestero
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Contact: Cathy Yarbrough
cathyy@heart.org
214-706-1340
American Heart Association
30-Apr-1999