The American Heart Association recently released its updated cardiovascular disease prevention guidelines for women. The guidelines emphasize practical medical advice that works in the ?real world? rather than on findings primarily observed in clinical research.
The American Heart Association (AHA) recently released its updated cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention guidelines for women. The guidelines emphasize practical medical advice that works in the “real world” rather than on findings primarily observed in clinical research.
The 2011 guidelines:
“These recommendations underscore the fact that benefits of preventive measures seen day-to-day in doctors’ offices often fall short of those reported for patients in research settings,” said Lori Mosca, MD, MPH, PhD, chair of the guidelines committee and a medical adviser for the AHA’s Go Red For Women movement. “Many women seen in provider practices are older, sicker, and experience more side effects than patients in research studies. Factors such as poverty, low literacy level, psychiatric illness, poor English skills, and vision and hearing problems can also challenge clinicians trying to improve their patients’ cardiovascular health.”
Mosca added that the guidelines are a paradigm shift from evidence-based to effectiveness-based. Under the guidelines, women at high risk for CVD have 1 or more of the following conditions:
The last of the criteria represents a change from how high risk was classified since 2007. Women were considered at high risk if their predicted 10-year risk was more than 20%.
Not everyone, however, believes the 2011 change to the guidelines is a change for the better.
“The definition of high risk for women … was not an evidence-based change,” said Rita Redberg, MD, MSc, director of women’s cardiovascular services at the University of California, San Francisco, and editor of the Archives of Internal Medicine. “That will lead to a lot more testing and a lot more medication use in women who will not benefit from it.”
Pharmacists Play Unique Role in Advancing Health Equity for Patients With Chronic Disease
December 7th 2023A new study, outlined in a poster at ASHP Midyear 2023, identified 3 key themes associated with the ways in which pharmacists are positioned to advance health equity for patients with chronic diseases.
Assessing Financial Impacts of Pharmacist-Led Interventions in Pediatric Ambulatory Care
December 5th 2023According to a poster abstract presented at the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting & Exhibition, specialty pharmacy services were used for a variety of conditions that have been reported in adult populations.