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Cardiovascular disease causes more than 400,000 deaths annually among U.S. women, and this public health trend has prompted 4 major medical organizations to collaborate on an updated, comprehensive approach for prevention and treatment. The American Heart Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine have developed a framework emphasizing cardiovascular risks associated with hormonal changes throughout women’s lives. As published in Circulation, the advisory projects that by 2050, hypertension prevalence among adult women will increase from 49% to 59%, obesity from 44% to 61%, diabetes from 15% to 25%, and cardiovascular disease from 11% to 14%. The organizations emphasize that menstrual abnormalities, pregnancy complications, and menopause can provide important clues about cardiovascular risk among women.
In the exam room: As a practical step, the organizations advocate incorporating reproductive history, hormonal influences, and psychosocial factors into cardiovascular assessments rather than relying primarily on age and traditional risk factors. For urgent care clinicians, the advisory also reinforces that chest discomfort remains the predominant symptom of acute coronary syndromes in women, occurring in more than 90% of cases, although additional symptoms may accompany it. Read more about chest wall pain and acute coronary syndrome from the JUCM archive: STEMI With Musculoskeletal Chest Pain: A Case Report