Cores & Centers | Our Interdisciplinary Research Cores | Cardiovascular Health | Cardiovascular Health

Cardiovascular Health

While some Americans may still think of cardiovascular disease as a “man’s disease,” it is in fact the leading cause of mortality in both women and men. Heart disease and stroke constitute what we call cardiovascular disease, which accounts for more deaths among American women than all forms of cancer combined. According to the most recent data available from the American Heart Association, cardiovascular disease is responsible for approximately one in six female deaths. Increasing evidence shows that when cardiovascular disease occurs, its appearance and clinical course can be different for women and men.

Definitions and terms: Cardiovascular disease includes a variety of diseases of the heart and blood vessels. The most common type is coronary heart disease or hardening of the arteries, which develops when plaque builds up on the inner walls of arteries near the heart and makes it harder for blood to flow. 

Other types of cardiovascular disease include:
- arrhythmia:when the heart beats in an abnormal rhythm 
- hypertensive heart disease:associated with high blood pressure
- ischemic stroke:when a blood vessel supplying the brain gets blocked
- hemorrhagic stroke:when a blood vessel within the brain bursts, often due to hypertension
- heart failure:when the heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs


For expanded definitions and links for more information go to: Types of Cardiovascular Disease

Mission

Women’s Health Research at Yale and the OhioHealth Healthcare System of Columbus, Ohio, a healthcare system serving thousands of patients a year, have joined together to form our Research Core on Cardiovascular Health. Together, we conduct studies to develop strategies for maintaining cardiovascular health, and enhance gender-specific treatment and prevention methods. Our goal is to implement changes in care derived from our research findings.

Core Director

Teresa Caulin-Glaser, M.D., Executive Director of the McConnell Heart Health Center, Columbus, Ohio



OhioHealth is a nationally recognized, not-for-profit healthcare organization serving and supported by the community. It is a family of 15 hospitals, 20 health and surgery centers, home-health providers, medical equipment and health service suppliers throughout a 46-county area. OhioHealth hospitals in central Ohio are Riverside Methodist Hospital, Grant Medical Center, Doctors Hospital, Grady Memorial Hospital, Marion General Hospital, Hardin Memorial Hospital and Dublin Methodist Hospital.

The OhioHealth Healthcare System offers both acute and chronic management and prevention of cardiovascular disease. This active clinical setting provides an outstanding opportunity to collect data on patients as they seek care and determine optimal methods for treating and preventing cardiac disease.