Heart Disease: A Silent Killer
Heart disease claims the life of one woman every minute. For decades, this condition has been an unseen and often misinterpreted threat, with many victims being assumed to have died from natural causes or to have slipped away peacefully in their sleep.
Barbra Streisand Takes a Stand
Iconic performer Barbra Streisand is raising her voice in a new initiative aimed at increasing awareness and promoting action against heart disease, which is responsible for the death of one woman each minute in the United States. As the leading cause of death among women, heart disease treatment is primarily influenced by research conducted on men. The campaign, titled “Fight the Ladykiller,” urges women to discuss heart disease with their healthcare providers, seek screening, and learn how this illness impacts them differently than men.
“When I discovered that research on women’s heart disease was conducted on men—even extending to male mice in labs—it felt incredibly unfair,” Streisand remarked in a recent interview with USA TODAY. “Since 1984, more women than men have died from heart disease each year… Heart disease takes more women’s lives than all types of cancer combined.”
Women’s Heart Alliance
The Women’s Heart Alliance (WHA) was established to promote awareness, inspire action, and drive new research focused on women’s heart health. This collaboration is a partnership between two of America’s premier medical institutions: the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute and the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
Founded in 2012, the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute is at the forefront of identifying heart disease patterns in women, developing innovative diagnostic methods, and enhancing specialized care for female patients. The center aims to address gender disparities in heart disease diagnosis and treatment while educating women on recognizing symptoms specific to female-pattern heart disease.
Women and their healthcare providers are not engaging in the necessary discussions regarding heart disease. Discover what you need to know about screenings and the conversations to have when you #getHeartChecked.
Heart disease kills one woman every minute.
For generations, women’s heart disease has lurked in the shadows as a silent and misunderstood killer. Its victims are often presumed to have died of natural causes or passed peacefully in their sleep.
Legendary entertainer Barbra Streisand is lending her voice to a new campaign to raise awareness and spark action against a killer that takes one woman’s life every minute in the USA – heart disease.
It’s the nation’s No. 1 killer of women, yet treatment today is largely shaped by research on men. The new campaign, “Fight the Ladykiller,” encourages women to talk to their doctors about heart disease, get screened, and get educated about how the disease affects them differently than men.
“When I found out research about women’s heart disease was being done on men – down to male mice in the laboratory – it seemed so unjust,” Streisand said in a recent interview with USA TODAY. “More women than men have died of heart disease each year since 1984. …Heart disease kills more women than all cancers combined.”
Women’s Heart Alliance
The Women’s Heart Alliance (WHA) was formed to raise awareness, encourage action and drive new research to fight women’s heart disease. It’s a unique collaboration between two of America’s leading medical institutions—the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute and the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
The Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, founded in 2012, is playing a leading role in identifying female-pattern heart disease, developing new diagnostic tools and advancing specialized care for women. The Institute is working to correct gender inequalities in heart disease diagnosis and treatment, as well as to educate women on how to recognize female-pattern heart disease symptoms.
Women and their healthcare providers aren’t having the conversations they should about heart disease. Find out what you need to know about the screenings and conversation you should have when you #getHeartChecked.
For more information go to fighttheladykiller.org.
