But Douglas was disappointed to find that women were just 38 percent of participants in mixed-sex studies. Also, much of the overall progress stemmed from two women-only studies each with tens of thousands of patients in the early 1990s. Women represented just 26 percent of participants in the total of six studies of congestive heart failure. Most of the studies focused instead on high blood pressure and coronary artery disease. About 60 million Americans suffer from some kind of cardiovascular illness, which leads all diseases in killing about 950,000 a year.
Some critics say male scientists have been more interested in treating the health problems of men.
Others say that pregnancies and the childbearing potential of women legitimately keep many from participating in studies. Spokesmen for the heart institute said they want to look at what is behind the relative scarcity of women in heart failure studies.