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New Framework Aims to Improve Women's Heart Health
· Confirmed
In Short: The American Heart Association has released a new framework to address cardiovascular disease among girls and women, marking a significant step in improving women's heart health.
The framework, published in the American Heart Association’s flagship journal Circulation, is the first coordinated, multi-society approach to prevent, detect, and manage cardiovascular disease among women.
According to Dr. Sadiya Khan, a cardiologist at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, the framework aims to address fragmented care by bringing together expertise from different specialties.
The framework includes a new Female Life Stage approach that starts cardiovascular risk assessment at perimenarche, around ages 8 to 15, emphasizing the importance of early intervention.
Dr. Marma Perak, a pediatric cardiologist at Lurie Children’s Hospital, highlighted the importance of starting heart health education early: “Heart health begins long before adulthood.”
The framework also emphasizes the need to consider psychosocial factors alongside hormonal and cardiovascular health, urging clinicians to provide holistic care.
In the United Kingdom, the government has launched a renewed Women’s Health Strategy aimed at empowering women to have a stronger say in their care.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting acknowledged the need for change, stating, “We inherited a broken NHS, which was particularly felt by women, who have for so long been let down by a healthcare system that too often gaslights women.”
The strategy includes measures to streamline gynaecological care, cut waiting lists, and address outdated practices around pain relief.
Professor Lucy Chappell, Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department of Health and Social Care, emphasized the importance of the strategy: “The renewal of the Women’s Health Strategy marks another important opportunity in our mission to build a fairer health system.”
What this adds
The framework aims to address long-standing disparities in women's health care and ensure that research benefits all women in society.
The Commonwealth Fund remains dedicated to tracking trends in women’s health over time and documenting how policy choices and judicial decisions may impact women’s health outcomes in the U.S.
What's confirmed
- Doctors are reminding all adults, and especially younger women, to be on the lookout for symptoms of heart disease for American Heart Health Month.
- Three manuscripts published today in the American Heart Association’s flagship journal, Circulation, are the first coordinated, multi-society framework to prevent, detect and manage cardiovascular disease among girls and women.
- “Women experience their healthcare across clinical specialties, but it often is fragmented or disconnected,” said Sadiya S.
- “Heart health begins long before adulthood,” said Dr. Marma Perak, a pediatric cardiologist at Lurie Children’s and Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
- "Women uniquely see many different clinicians, yet there wasn't a shared playbook," said Northwestern cardiologist Dr. Sadiya Khan, chair of the writing group and professor of cardiovascular epidemiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine — and the 2026 William B.
- "As pediatric clinicians, we have the opportunity to help every girl start strong and to ensure that what we learn about her health follows her as she grows."
- “Heart disease and other forms of cardiovascular disease don’t suddenly become relevant when we become older women,” she noted.
- "Specifically, these reports connect the dots for clinicians, for patients and across health domains so that care is holistic and begins in adolescence," she stated.
What's still developing
- Learn More Explore our newly updated, enhanced, and expanded International Health Care System Profiles to learn how 31 countries across six continents approach health care.
- Among women in the U.S., deaths from preventable causes are on the rise.
- The Commonwealth Fund remains dedicated to tracking trends in women’s health over time and documenting how policy choices and judicial decisions may impact women’s health outcomes in the U.S.
- Women to be empowered with a stronger say in their care in new trial, where they will be asked if, based on their experience, money should be withheld from providers and used for targeted improvements Gynaecological care streamlined to cut waiting lists and ensure faster access for conditions like endometriosis and fibroids New reforms to tackle outdated and misogynistic practices around pain relief Women across the country will be better heard and served under new plans set out in the renewed Women’s Health Strategy, published today (15 April 2026).
- By tackling long-standing disparities, addressing gaps in the evidence base through gender balanced research guidelines and making it easier for women to take part in clinical trials, we are ensuring that the research that we fund benefits all women in society.
- The move aims to ensure services are held accountable for listening to women, in a bid to stamp out long-standing issues with women being ignored.
- Women’s experiences will be put at the centre of care across the healthcare system, ensuring patients’ voices are listened to and acted upon, including exploring ways in which women’s feedback can be directly linked to provider funding and targeted improvements through a new trial.
- Women will be directed to the right professional first time through a single referral point, along with marrying local services with online support to drastically cut waiting lists and ensure women no longer face years-long waits for diagnosis and treatment for conditions like endometriosis, which can take nearly a decade to diagnose.
- A new standard of care will also be produced to ensure women are finally offered appropriate and effective pain relief for invasive gynaecological procedures, from contraceptive fitting through to hysteroscopies, addressing long-standing concerns around inadequate pain management.
- Whether it’s being passed from one appointment to another for conditions like endometriosis and fibroids, or a lack of proper pain relief during invasive procedures, through to having to navigate symptoms for years before receiving a diagnosis, it’s clear the system is failing women.
- Data, Freedom of Information releases and corporate reports Women across the country will be better heard and served under new plans set out in the renewed Women’s Health Strategy.
- Dr Sue Mann, NHS England’s clinical director for women’s health, said: We have come a long way in the last decade with women’s health being talked about more but there are still parts of society and the health system that are trapped in outdated thinking.