heart attacks in young women
The largest, most comprehensive study of young women with heart attacks — VIRGO
(Variation in Recovery: Role of Gender on Outcomes in Young AMI patients) — was
recently launched at Yale School of Medicine with a $9.7 million National Institutes
of Health grant.
“This is the first study to focus on this high-risk — and highly
unstudied — group,” says Judith Lichtman, associate professor at
the Yale School of Public Health. “There have been no large, prospective
studies of this population, even though the death toll is comparable to that
from breast cancer.”
She says the research team is exploring what accounts for premature heart disease
in women and why they experience worse outcomes than men of similar age with
heart disease.
The four-year grant will support the study of 2,000 women age 55 and younger
with 1,000 men for comparison. The multi-site study bridges disciplines from
basic biology and clinical sciences to psychology and health services research.
Although women under age 55 with heart attacks represent a small proportion
of all patients with heart disease, they account for about 40,000 hospitalizations
each year. About 8,000 women under the age of 55 die of heart disease annually,
ranking it among the major causes of death in this group. While most women
in this age group are protected from heart disease, notes Lichtman, prior research
indicates that young women have a much greater risk of dying after a heart
attack than men of the same age.
The study addresses questions ranging from genetics and clinical care to outcomes,
including: How are outcomes of women different from those of men? What are
the genetic, demographic, psychosocial and behavioral factors that contribute
to premature heart disease in women? How do delays in clinical presentation
and treatment affect the risk and outcomes of women? Do women get the same
quality of care as men?
“Despite the increasing focus on women with heart disease in recent years,
we know little about heart disease in this population,” says principal
investigator Dr. Harlan M. Krumholz, the Harold H. Hines Jr. Professor of Medicine
and Epidemiology and Public Health at Yale School of Medicine. “Since young
women with heart disease are relatively rare at any one hospital, we have assembled
an unprecedented network of almost 100 sites nationwide to identify and enroll
women for this groundbreaking study.”
The investigators have also developed a novel partnership with the American
Heart Association’s “Go Red for Women,” a national movement
to raise awareness about heart disease and to empower women to reduce their
risk by learning about prevention. The investigators will also collaborate
with various other organizations. For more information about VIRGO, send e-mail
to virgo@yale.edu or visit www.virgostudy.org.
T H I S
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Rededication ceremony held for Silliman College
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SCHOOL OF MEDICINE NEWS
Yale receives $12.4 million grant to oversee study . . .
Research to examine causes of heart attacks in young women
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Work in Ob/Gyn is recognized with grants, honors
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Postdoctoral fellow wins fellowships for cancer cell research
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A ‘thank you’ from United Way
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IN MEMORIAM
Dr. Barry Goldberg, devoted career to the safety of athletes
Dr. James Kenney, was the ‘doctor’s doctor’ to many
Dr. Nicholas Spinelli, was active in alumni affairs
Longtime professor Stanton Wheeler dies on Dec. 7
Memorial service for Eugene Waith
Stately affairs
Campus Notes
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