This post was authored by Dipti Itchhaporia, MD, FACC, chair elect of the ACC’s Board of Governors.

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According to WomenHeart, heart disease is the leading cause of death of women in the U.S. Nearly five times as many women will die from heart attacks alone this year than will die from breast cancer. Women have a 28 percent increased risk of dying as compared to men to die within the first year after a heart attack. Unfortunately, the vast majority of cardiovascular research has been performed on men and/or data have not been separated out based on gender.  Where men and women have been studied separately, some important differences have been identified.

Yesterday the ACC co-hosted a Gender Data Forum with the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions’ (SCAI’s) Women in Interventions, to explore the information and statistics that are available. The forum featured primary investigators from major clinical trials who discussed gender data differences in their trials that specifically looked at anti-platelet and anti-thrombolytic therapies in Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS). Studies included PLATO, TRITON, CURRENT OASIS, GRAVITAS, HORIZONS/ACUITY, ATLAS ACS, Fondaparinux, Integrellin, Abciximab, CHARISMA and CURE, and FRISC II.

By examining and discussing the results from these studies and commenting on the comparative effectiveness, the goal was to hone in on the differences in these studies that we could further explore and better understand as we think about future research and trials examining differences in gender. A further goal is to increase gender specific data in future studies.

Overall the forum was successful and there were several ideas that resulted from the discussions as we look to impact regulatory agencies, industry, physicians and patients to reduce health disparities.  Our hope is to compile our learnings from the forum into something that can be useful and more widely distributed, so stay tuned for more information. In the meantime look for upcoming ACC educational sessions on women’s health disparities, including the Heart of Women’s Health meeting in January and hot topics at ACC.12 in Chicago.