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(Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. 2009;29:277.)
© 2009 American Heart Association, Inc.

Go Red for Women

Cardiovascular Disease in Women

Nigel Mackman; Susan Smyth

From the Department of Medicine (N.M.), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine (S.S.), The Gill Heart Institute, University of Kentucky, Lexington.

Correspondence to Nigel Mackman, Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-9100. E-mail nmackman@med.unc.edu

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

The American Heart Association launched the Go Red for Women (GoRedForWomen.org) campaign in 2004 to increase awareness of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in women. A similar campaign called "Red Dress" has been sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the Department of Health and Human Services. In the last five years, important strides have been made in raising awareness of the burden of CVD in women, yet fundamental gaps exist in our knowledge of the underlying biology, clinical presentation, and optimal treatment strategies of CVD in women. Younger women (20 to 39 years) tend to be protected from coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke, and hypertension (Figure), yet CVD is more prevalent in older women relative to age-matched men (greater than 80 years). These differences appear to be attributable, in part, to the influence of sex hormones on the vasculature, platelets, and the expression of coagulation proteins.

View larger version (15K):   Figure. Prevalence of CVD in adults age 20 and older by age and sex (National Health and æExamination Survey: 2005–2006. Source: National Center for Health Statistics and National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. These data include coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke, and hypertension. Original source: American Heart Association website http://www.americanheart.org/downloadable/heart/12293623845152009%20Stat%20charts%20for%20web1120%20v4.ppt.

See accompanying articles on pages 279, 284, 289

To mark the fifth anniversary of the Go Red for Women campaign, the current issue of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology contains three articles focusing on CVD in women. The first article, by Kim and Venu¹ and . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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