Project 461039

Right now, in Canada, women with a high blood pressure disorder in pregnancy (HDP) are 2-5 times more likely to have a heart attack or stroke before the age of 40 and die prematurely before they reach 60 years old. Half of the doctors in Canada aren't aware of this higher risk - which is probably why only nine in ten women with a HDP aren't told by their doctors that they have a higher than average risk of heart disease or stroke. If women don't know they are at risk, how can they to take charge of their health to lower their risk of a heart attack or stroke until it's too late? Clearly, we need to find a better way to stop women from having heart attacks and strokes. We need to keep them healthy - for their sake and for the sake of their family - and we need to do it now. To address these issues, we brought together a team of patients, doctors, researchers, and health care groups from across Canada. Together we have worked very hard to develop a new guideline on best practices to prevent heart and other chronic diseases in these young Canadian women. This meeting will help our team launch the guideline into clinical practice to reach women across Canada. We will also launch our national database to evaluate whether these best practices actually improve the health and quality of life of Canadian people. Finally, together as a team with people with lived experience we will identify the next research questions that our diverse team will answer over the next few years to improve the health of thousands of Canadian women every year in Canada.