I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3001

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for expanding, intensifying, and coordinating activities of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood

Institute with respect to heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular

diseases in women.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 29, 1996

Ms. WATERS (for herself, Mr. FRAZER, Mr. PAYNE of New Jersey, Mr.

MCDERMOTT, Ms. NORTON, Mr. FAZIO of California, Mr. CONYERS, Mr.

DELLUMS, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. JACKSON-LEE

of Texas, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Ms. LOFGREN, Ms. PELOSI, Mrs.

MALONEY, Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́, Mr. PASTOR, Mr. FROST, Mrs. CLAYTON, Mr. FILNER, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. CLYBURN, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Ms.

MCKINNEY, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, and Mr. FARR of California) introduced the

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for

expanding, intensifying, and coordinating activities of the

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute with respect

to heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases

in women.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Women’s Cardio3 vascular Diseases Research and Prevention Act’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

5 The Congress finds as follows with respect to women

6 in the United States:

7 (1) Heart attack, stroke, and other cardio8 vascular diseases are the leading causes of death in

9 women.

10 (2) Heart attacks and strokes are leading

11 causes of disability in women.

12 (3) Cardiovascular diseases claim the lives of

13 more women each year than does cancer. Each year

14 more than 479,000 females die of cardiovascular dis15 eases, while approximately 246,000 females die of

16 cancer. Heart attack kills more than 5 times as

17 many females as breast cancer. Stroke kills twice as

18 many females as breast cancer.

19 (4) One in 5 females has some form of cardio20 vascular disease. Of females under age 65, each year

21 more than 20,000 die of heart attacks. In the case

22 of African-American women, from ages 35 to 74 the

23 death rate from heart attacks is approximately twice

24 that of white women and 3 times that of women of

25 other races.
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1 (5) Each year since 1984, cardiovascular dis2 eases have claimed the lives of more females than

3 males. In 1992, of the number of individuals who

4 died of such diseases, 52 percent were females and

5 48 percent were males.

6 (6) The clinical course of cardiovascular dis7 eases is different in women than in men, and cur8 rent diagnostic capabilities are less accurate in

9 women than in men. Once a woman develops a car10 diovascular disease, she is more likely than a man to

11 have continuing health problems, and she is more

12 likely to die.

13 (7) Of women who have had a heart attack, ap14 proximately 44 percent die within 1 year of the at15 tack. Of men who have had such an attack, 27 per16 cent die within 1 year. At older ages, women who

17 have had a heart attack are twice as likely as men

18 to die from the attack within a few weeks. Women

19 are more likely than men to have a stroke during the

20 first 6 years following a heart attack. More than 60

21 percent of women who suffer a stroke die within 8

22 years. Long-term survivorship of stroke is better in

23 women than in men. Of individuals who die from a

24 stroke, each year approximately 61 percent are fe25 males. In 1992, 87,124 females died from strokes.
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1 Women have unrecognized heart attacks more fre2 quently than men. Of women who died suddenly

3 from heart attack, 63 percent had no previous evi4 dence of disease.

5 (8) More than half of the annual health care

6 costs that are related to cardiovascular diseases are

7 attributable to the occurrence of the diseases in

8 women, each year costing this nation hundreds of

9 billions of dollars in health care costs and lost pro10 ductivity.

11 SEC. 3. EXPANSION AND INTENSIFICATION OF ACTIVITIES

12 REGARDING HEART ATTACK, STROKE AND

13 OTHER CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES IN

14 WOMEN.

15 Subpart 2 of part C of title IV of the Public Health

16 Service Act (42 U.S.C. 285b et seq.) is amended by insert17 ing after section 424 the following section:

18 ‘‘HEART ATTACK, STROKE, AND OTHER CARDIOVASCULAR

19 DISEASES IN WOMEN

20 ‘‘SEC. 424A. (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the

21 Institute shall expand, intensify, and coordinate research

22 and related activities of the Institute with respect to heart

23 attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases in

24 women.

25 ‘‘(b) COORDINATION WITH OTHER INSTITUTES.—

26 The Director of the Institute shall coordinate activities
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1 under subsection (a) with similar activities conducted by

2 the other national research institutes and agencies of the

3 National Institutes of Health to the extent that such Insti4 tutes and agencies have responsibilities that are related

5 to heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases

6 in women.

7 ‘‘(c) CERTAIN PROGRAMS.—In carrying out sub8 section (a), the Director of the Institute shall conduct or

9 support research to expand the understanding of the

10 causes of, and to develop methods for preventing, cardio11 vascular diseases in women. Activities under such sub12 section shall include conducting and supporting the follow13 ing:

14 ‘‘(1) Research to determine the reasons under15 lying the prevalence of heart attack, stroke, and

16 other cardiovascular diseases in women, including

17 African-American women and other women who are

18 members of racial or ethnic minority groups.

19 ‘‘(2) Basic research concerning the etiology and

20 causes of cardiovascular diseases in women.

21 ‘‘(3) Epidemiological studies to address the fre22 quency and natural history of such diseases and the

23 differences among men and women, and among ra24 cial and ethnic groups, with respect to such diseases.
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1 ‘‘(4) The development of safe, efficient, and

2 cost-effective diagnostic approaches to evaluating

3 women with suspected ischemic heart disease.

4 ‘‘(5) Clinical research for the development and

5 evaluation of new treatments for women, including

6 rehabilitation.

7 ‘‘(6) Studies to gain a better understanding of

8 methods of preventing cardiovascular diseases in

9 women, including applications of effective methods

10 for the control of blood pressure, lipids, and obesity.

11 ‘‘(7) Information and education programs for

12 patients and health care providers on risk factors as13 sociated with heart attack, stroke, and other cardio14 vascular diseases in women, and on the importance

15 of the prevention or control of such risk factors and

16 timely referral with appropriate diagnosis and treat17 ment. Such programs shall include information and

18 education on health-related behaviors that can im19 prove such important risk factors as smoking, obe20 sity, high blood cholesterol, and lack of exercise.

21 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the

22 purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized

23 to be appropriated $140,000,000 for fiscal year 1997, and

24 such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years

25 1998 and 1999. The authorization of appropriations es-
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1 tablished in the preceding sentence is in addition to any

2 other authorization of appropriation that is available for

3 such purpose.’’.

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