Rochell Issa (she/her)

Improving cardiovascular health in women is an urgent public health priority. Persistent gaps remain in awareness, prevention, and management of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in women. Only 41% of women identify heart disease as the leading cause of death. CVD accounts for >400,000 deaths among US women in 2024, which is more than breast cancer, lung cancer, and chronic lung disease combined. The Advisory describes the current landscape and proposes a novel infrastructure to support expansion of dedicated Comprehensive Centers of Excellence (CCoE) for Women's Cardiovascular Care: interdisciplinary care models built on four interdisciplinary pillars: clinical care, education and training, research, and community partnerships. Integrated pathways spanning disciplines can reduce fragmentation, enable earlier risk identification, and expand women's representation in clinical research. @American_Heart, @AmerAcadPeds, @acog and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine jointly approve this shared model. 📷 Examples of women’s cardiovascular health education topics across medical education and training. ✍🏼 @heartDocSadiya professional.heart.org/en/sc…

For the first time, @American_Heart, @AmerAcadPeds, @acog, and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine have come together to release shared guidance to help clinicians identify cardiovascular risk early and take action. The landmark three-part publication series highlights how female-specific biology affects girls’ and women’s hearts and creates a “Female Life Stage” framework to help protect heart health from puberty through menopause and beyond. The Female Life Stage framework is based on female biology and offers windows of opportunity to prevent heart disease and stroke and manage future disease risk. Each life stage is defined by a change in hormones that is uniquely experienced by girls and women, with pregnancy identified as an event affecting cardiovascular health that may occur at any or multiple life stages: ➡️ Stage 1 perimenarche - This stage represents the transition after the first menstrual period. Approximate age range is 8 – 15 years. ➡️ Stage 2 ovarian cycling - Regular ovulatory and hormone cycles are established and when pregnancy may occur. Approximate age range is 15 – 44 years. ➡️ Stage 3 perimenopause - This stage represents the transition to variable cycle length, skipped cycles and hormone changes. Approximate age range is 45-51 years. ➡️ Stage 4 postmenopause – This stage represents the years that begin after menopause or 12 months after the final menstrual period. Approximate age is 51 years and older. ➡️ Pregnancy, in any life stage – the time before, during and after pregnancy is highlighted as a biological “stress test” that can identify cardiovascular risks that may have been previously unrecognized. ✍🏼 @heartDocSadiya 📷 The Female Life Stage framework for the prevention and management of cardiovascular disease in girls and women professional.heart.org/en/sc…