A fighting chance 2020 Impact Update — Spring Report
Prognosis: Promising When it comes to heart and brain health, women have been shortchanged. But new research advances are closing the gap.
There are real biological differences between the sexes, and not just the obvious ones. Women’s hearts and arteries are smaller, for example, and plaque builds up in their blood vessels differently. However, two-thirds of clinical research into heart disease and stroke is based on men. This research gap is costing lives. In fact, heart disease and stroke are the number one cause of premature death for women in Canada. At every stage – from diagnosis to treatment to recovery – women fare worse than men. Their symptoms often go unrecognized. Some treatments are less effective in women. And women take longer to get better and face higher rates of recurrence.
In 2018, Heart & Stroke launched a campaign to address this gap – and donors and volunteers embraced it. Your generosity led to the creation of a national research network focused on women’s heart and brain health. Heart & Stroke funds are helping dozens of Canadian scientists tackle crucial questions for women’s health. And today, all applications for Heart & Stroke research grants must include an analysis of sex and gender-related differences. Now we’re starting to see results. We are moving from anger to action to answers. It is donors like you who are helping to close the research gap, and empower healthcare professionals to save more women’s lives.
“ Thanks to you, we are making big strides, but much remains to be done. Women are still paying too high a price for gaps in research, prevention, diagnosis and treatment.” — Anne Simard, Chief Mission and Research Officer, Heart & Stroke