"Despite what the research findings make clear, sex-specific indicators of heart disease risk are rarely taken into account,” said Natalie Bello, MD, MPH, director of Hypertension Research in the Smidt Heart Institute’s Department of Cardiology and co-editor of the collection of articles.

“Women suffer a greater risk of heart attack and stroke for any elevation in blood pressure and are more likely to be hospitalized for high blood pressure complications than men,” said compendium co-editor Noel Bairey Merz, MD, director of the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Center. “Women also tend to have worse outcomes than men due to missed or delayed diagnosis or inadequate treatment.”