29 September 2026
Today, 29 September, is World Heart Day, and we are calling for urgent attention on women's heart health. Right now, almost every hour of every day, an Australian woman dies from heart disease. Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute researchers are working to close the gap in understanding.
Life stages and experiences such as pregnancy, menopause, diabetes and even treatments for breast cancer all affect women’s hearts in unique ways.
For too long, women's hearts were left out of research. A 1977 United States’ Food and Drug Administration policy excluded women of childbearing potential from clinical trials. It was introduced out of caution following the thalidomide tragedy of the 1950s and 60s — a morning-sickness drug, taken by pregnant women in Australia and elsewhere, that caused severe birth defects — but it was interpreted broadly and kept most women out of drug research. The rule was not reversed until 1993. Even as recently as 2019, women made up only around 40% of participants in trials for cancer, cardiovascular disease and psychiatric disorders.
The result is a body of knowledge built almost entirely around male physiology, including how we prevent, diagnose and treat heart disease. We have had major gaps in our understanding of how heart disease develops in women. But we now know that women’s hearts are different.
Put simply, the gap in our knowledge is costing women's lives.
The Lifelong exercise and vascular function in females (LEAF) study is tracking how cardiovascular function changes across a woman's life. Associate Professor Erin Howden and her team are investigating how hormonal changes during the menopausal transition impact vascular function in women, and whether exercise training slows the decline in cardiovascular function following menopause.
Long-term exercise training can reduce cardiovascular disease risk by improving heart health, reducing blood pressure and reducing cholesterol levels in the blood.
Several studies have suggested that exercise training can also improve vascular function, which may contribute to a reduction in cardiovascular disease risk. However, studies investigating the impact of exercise training on vascular function across the lifespan have predominantly focused on males, and females have been underrepresented in this area of research. We’re now recruiting more women aged 18–30 or 45–65 years to help us bridge this critical gap in understanding.
In research led by Dr Sarah Gutman, we are determining whether weight loss in women living with obesity and heart failure can reverse the abnormalities that have developed in the heart. Women are more likely than men to develop the form of heart failure most strongly linked to obesity, yet they remain under-represented in the research that shapes their care.
