1

Heart disease in women is one of the most prevalent health complications and the leading

cause of death in women in the United States according to the Military Health System

Communication Office. Here are the facts corroborating the emergent discoveries surrounding

women and heart disease according to the Women's Heart Foundation:

 Worldwide, 8.6 million women die from heart disease each year, accounting for a third of
all deaths in women.
 8 million women in the US are currently living with heart disease.
 435,000 American women have heart attacks annually; 83,000 are under age 65; 35,000
are under 55.
 42% of women who have heart attacks die within 1 year, compared to 24% of men.
 Under age 50, women’s heart attacks are twice as likely as men’s to be fatal.
 267,000 women die each year from heart attacks, which kill six times as many women as
breast cancer. Another 31, 837 women die each year of congestive heart failure,
representing 62.6% of all heart failure deaths.

Even more stark are the health implications compared to men:

 Since 1984, more women than men have died each year from heart disease and the gap
between men and women’s survival continues to widen.

 Women are twice as likely as men to die within the first few weeks after suffering a heart
attack.

 38% of women and 25% of men will die within one year of a first recognized heart
attack.

 Women comprise only 24% of participants in all heart-related studies.

 Studies show women who are eligible candidates to receive life-saving clot-buster drugs
are far less likely than men to receive them.
 Treadmills as a screening tool for diagnosing heart disease are accurate in men but not so
in women. In one study comparing the accuracy of treadmill tests in women and men,
misleading treadmill results occurred in 35 percent of the women studied. 

When you converge all of the research studies, it points to the need that women have

challenges when it comes to prevention, screening, treatment, and further research. Even more

challenging is the rise of the women veteran population in recent years compared to men and the

adversities facing cardiovascular health.

2

UT Cardiovascular Center (UTCC) prides itself as a cutting-edge medical research facility

with nationwide studies and global impacts. Several key factors are driving a campaign

surrounding women veterans and cardiovascular health that our organization has the opportunity

to bolster.

The first factor is the number of women that currently serve in the U.S. military. Women

count for approximately 16.3% of the 1.3M active duty force (Han et al., 2019). The number of

women veterans is projected to increase along with the use of the Veterans Health

Administration (VHA). Additionally, the ethnic diversity is also higher amongst women veterans

as compared to male veterans.

The second factor is the high prevalence of traditional and non-traditional cardiovascular

disease risk factors. Factors such as homelessness, hypertension, obesity, sexual trauma,

depression, and PTSD all contribute to an at-risk emerging population that is distinguishable

from male veterans and civilian women (Han et al., 2019). Our organization can be the driving

change to serve those women who have served us.

The third and final factor is the prime location that our network of facilities serves…the

greater Austin, Texas area. Austin ranks as number five for best locations for veterans to live

according to Alas (2020) of U.S. News & World Report. The survey considers the cost of living,

education, employment, and health care opportunities. Our facility is also relatively close to the

Central Texas Veterans Health Care System (CTVHCS) which consists of two medical centers in

Temple and Waco. CTVHCS would be a key audience to drive our campaign to about women

veteran heart health. Because women veterans are normally seen at VHA facilities, reaching out

to CTVHCS would be a strategic move to provide awareness, education, and resources.

3

The VHA and CTVHCS aren’t the only key publics we could reach through this campaign.

There seem to be fewer prospective investigations into cardiovascular disease concerning women

veterans according to Han et al., (2019): “We need to step beyond that and start looking at more

prospective randomized trials that include more women veterans so that we can better understand

cardiovascular disease in this population" The visibility of our campaign would drive more

research studies into the subject matter for more clinical trials.

References

Han, J. K., Yano, E. M., Watson, K. E., & Ebrahimi, R. (2019). Cardiovascular care in women

veterans. Circulation, 139(8), 1102–1109.

https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.037748

Neale, T. (2019, February 21). Call to action issued for CVD care in female military veterans.

TCTMD. https://www.tctmd.com/news/call-action-issued-cvd-care-female-military-

veterans

Military Health System Communications Office. (2019, October 4). The head, hand, and heart

of women's health. https://www.health.mil/News/Articles/2019/10/04/The-Head-Hand-

and-Heart-of-Womens-Health

Women's Heart Foundation (n.d.). Women and heart disease facts. (n.d.). Retrieved from January

23, 2021 from http://www.womensheart.org/PDFs/FactSheet_WHD.pdf

Alas, H. (2020, November 11). The best and worst large U.S. cities for veterans. U.S. News &

World Report. https://www.usnews.com/news/cities/articles/2020-11-11/the-10-best-

cities-for-veterans-to-live