Recognizing women's cardiovascular health as a critical health care priority that affects every State and contributes to increased health care costs, and promoting the necessity of increased awareness of and education on the symptoms for heart disease among women, gender-specific cardiovascular disease research, and policy action to alleviate the risks of heart disease among women.

IV 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. RES. 88 Recognizing women’s cardiovascular health as a critical health care priority that affects every State and contributes to increased health care costs, and promoting the necessity of increased awareness of and education on the symptoms for heart disease among women, gender-specific cardio- vascular disease research, and policy action to alleviate the risks of heart disease among women. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 2, 2021 Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER (for herself, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. TAYLOR, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. BOST, Mr. POSEY, Ms. NORTON, Mrs. AXNE, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. SCANLON, and Ms. ADAMS) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce RESOLUTION Recognizing women’s cardiovascular health as a critical health care priority that affects every State and contrib- utes to increased health care costs, and promoting the necessity of increased awareness of and education on the symptoms for heart disease among women, gender- specific cardiovascular disease research, and policy action to alleviate the risks of heart disease among women. Whereas heart disease is the number one killer of women in the United States; VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Feb 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR88.IH HR88 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HRES 88 IH Whereas heart disease accounts for the deaths of 400,000 women each year or 1,080 each day; Whereas one in five women die of heart disease or stroke; Whereas the symptoms of heart disease and heart attack among women are different from those among men; Whereas the maternal mortality rate in the United States is rising with more than 700 women dying from pregnancy- related conditions each year, and cardiac disease and stroke, the leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States, is responsible for approximately 34 percent of these losses; Whereas unrecognized symptoms and inadequate treatment of cardiovascular disease among women contribute to the increasing costs to the United States health care system, which, if left unaddressed, are projected to surpass $1 trillion by 2035; Whereas heart attack symptoms among women are not typi- cally recognized and can be as subtle as fatigue, jaw pain, shortness of breath, backache, and indigestion; Whereas half of all women experiencing heart attacks display none of the typically recognized male symptoms; Whereas 64 percent of women who die of coronary heart dis- ease show no prior typically recognized symptoms; Whereas women are 50 percent more likely to receive an in- correct diagnosis following a heart attack; Whereas despite gender differences in physiology and the manifestation of cardiovascular disease, women comprise only 36 percent of participants in cardiovascular disease studies that enroll both men and women; and VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Feb 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR88.IH HR88 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HRES 88 IH Whereas even when considering all cardiovascular disease-re- lated studies, including single-sex studies, women still comprise only 38 percent of participants: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 1 (1) recognizes the vital importance of decreas- 2 ing cardiovascular disease among women; 3 (2) promotes the necessity of raising awareness 4 of the preventable ubiquity of cardiovascular mor- 5 tality among women, and urges a comprehensive 6 public awareness initiative that establishes best prac- 7 tices for identifying and treating cardiovascular inci- 8 dents in women, specifically; 9 (3) supports efforts to educate women, men, pa- 10 tients, and physicians about the critical differences 11 of cardiovascular disease symptoms between women 12 and men; 13 (4) supports the promotion of gender-specific 14 cardiovascular health research, prevention, and 15 treatment, because— 16 (A) there is a material difference in the 17 way women present with cardiovascular or 18 heart attack symptoms; and 19 (B) gender-specific cardiovascular research 20 is essential to driving successful positive out- 21 comes in the reduction of mortality rates; 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Feb 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR88.IH HR88 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HRES 88 IH (5) affirms the connection between cardio- 1 vascular disease and preeclampsia in new mothers; 2 (6) acknowledges that the costs to the health 3 care system of unrecognized symptoms in the treat- 4 ment of women can be substantially reduced with 5 appropriate public policy; and 6 (7) supports the development of economic im- 7 pact data to ascertain the health care system costs 8 to be saved by decreasing the incidents of death due 9 to unrecognized symptoms of heart attack in women. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:01 Feb 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HR88.IH HR88 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS