Trial and Error
Why more women are needed in cardiac clinical trials
More women than men die from heart disease. A group of interventional cardiologists released a new study in January that highlights several potential reasons why this – including a lack of participation by women in clinical trials .
According to Women in Innovations (WIN), only 20 to 25 percent of participants in clinical trials on heart disease are women.
Why Few Women Participate in Trials
According to a survey of more than 300 women who are members of WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease, only 10 percent said their doctor suggested participating in a clinical trial after the women had a heart attack or were diagnosed as having heart disease.
Eighty percent of women with heart disease in the survey said they didn’t consider participating in clinical trials. Their top three reasons:
-
50 percent said they were not aware clinical trials were recruiting patients.
-
31 percent said they were concerned about effects of treatment or lack of effects on their heart disease if given a placebo.
-
20 percent cited logistical problem, including transportation, geography, financial issues or lack of time.
Heart Disease Affects Men and Women Differently
Angela Taylor, MD, an interventional cardiologist at the University of Virginia Health System’s Club Red Clinic, says the findings aren’t surprising.
“We know coronary disease is diagnosed less often in women and treated less aggressively. Both of these factors probably contribute to the lower numbers of women in clinical trials,” Taylor says. “We certainly need more women in large clinical trials to determine if our current treatments for heart disease are effective in women. We also need to continue to try and uncover the reasons why women have worse outcomes than men. Certainly, underdiagnosis and undertreatment contribute to worse outcomes, but it is also likely that heart disease in a woman looks very different from heart disease in a man.”
Why Women Need to Participate in Trials
Taylor – who is the principal investigator for a clinical trial examining how heart disease develops differently in men and women – says women need to know the importance of participating in clinical trials to help doctors learn more about how heart disease impacts them.
“The more women that participate in trials, the closer we come to knowing the truth about heart disease in women,” she says. “For about half a million women a year in the United States, it’s a matter of life and death.”
