Tackling coronary heart disease

doi:10.1136/bmj.323.7320.1016

BMJ 2001;323:1016-1017 ( 3 November )

Editorials

Tackling coronary heart disease

A gender sensitive approach is needed

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Coronary heart disease is the commonest cause of death in the United Kingdom, with marked gender differences in incidence,presentation, referral, recovery, and rehabilitation.^1-6 Currentpolicy on coronary heart disease is written in gender neutrallanguage at a time when treatment has been moving towards a morebehavioural model, where cardiac rehabilitation is a therapeuticoption and changing cardiac health behaviour a major objective.Given the importance of this there is a need for health strategythat is gendersensitive.

The government views the national service framework for coronary heart disease as its "blueprint" for tackling heart disease.⁷It lays out 12 standards and sets out services that should beavailable throughout England. Although the framework acknowledgesgender differences, there is no clear recognition in the guidelinesof how these are to beaddressed.

In part this is due to the evidence on which the guidelines have been based. Relatively small . . . [Full text of this article]