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Women missing cardiac rehab despite key benefits, study finds

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Women are underutilising cardiac rehabilitation programmes despite clear evidence they reduce hospital readmissions and the risk of future heart attacks, new research shows.

Even when women do join these exercise, lifestyle and education programmes after heart surgery or major cardiovascular events, they are less likely than men to complete them.

An American Heart Association scientific statement  highlights the benefits of cardiac rehabilitation, barriers to access, and potential ways to increase participation among women.

It was co-authored by Jessica Golbus, a cardiologist at the University of Michigan Health Frankel Cardiovascular Center.

Cardiac rehabilitation combines supervised exercise sessions, education about heart-healthy living, and counselling to reduce stress and improve mental health following a cardiac event.

Patients typically attend several sessions a week for multiple weeks or months.

Golbus said: “Even when women do participate, the research tells us that they are still less likely to complete cardiac rehabilitation as compared to men.

“There are several barriers that women face to accessing cardiac rehabilitation, and existing programmes may fail to adequately address their specific needs.”

Women are referred for cardiac rehabilitation less often than men, with clinicians less likely to discuss it with female patients.

This gap is even wider among women from underrepresented racial groups.

Other barriers include insurance coverage, transportation problems, social isolation and caring responsibilities.

Women are more often the primary caregivers in families, which can make attending regular sessions difficult.

Research shows women who do take part benefit just as much as men — with lower blood pressure, better cholesterol levels and an improved quality of life.

Golbus said: “There is so much research that shows how cardiac rehabilitation is an essential tool for patients to optimise their recovery.

“I would encourage anyone who thinks they might be eligible for cardiac rehabilitation to talk to their clinical team and consider participating.”

Women recovering from cardiac events often have specific needs that existing programmes do not always meet.

They are more likely than men to experience depression and emotional distress after a heart event, and tend to be older at diagnosis, with additional health conditions that may restrict their exercise capacity.

They are also more likely to be referred following less common cardiovascular conditions such as coronary artery dissection — a tear in the wall of a heart artery — rather than the more typical heart attacks that usually lead to referral.

Golbus said: “Despite women having some unique needs, the research supports that all patients that qualify for cardiac rehabilitation have the potential for benefit.”

The statement outlines several ways to close the participation gap.

Automatic referral systems could significantly boost enrolment, while direct recommendations from physicians or case manager support have been shown to improve awareness and attendance.

Golbus said: “All of this points to a clear need for targeted interventions to improve cardiac rehabilitation participation and outcomes among women.

“I think the approach needs to be multi-faceted.”

Tailored programmes for women could help — such as offering a wider range of exercise options, more focused education and stronger psychosocial support.

Peer support groups after cardiac diagnoses are also linked to better quality of life and lower depression and anxiety scores.

Golbus said: “Women may also benefit from a peer support group after a cardiovascular diagnosis or event.

“Participating in those groups is linked to increased quality of life and lower depression and anxiety scores, which all affect cardiac rehab attendance.

“Finally, there is reason to explore virtual cardiac rehab that incorporates digital health technologies.

“This could eliminate the need for transportation to sessions and potentially improve access for patients who are unable to attend centre-based cardiac rehabilitation.”

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Condé Nast to close women’s health magazine after 47 years

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Condé Nast will close its women’s health publication Self after 47 years, with unprofitable editions of Glamour and Wired also set to shut.

In a memo published on the magazine giant’s website on Thursday, the media company’s chief executive, Roger Lynch, said: “As audience behaviours shift, we have not seen a path for Self to continue in its current form as a digital publication.”

“Going forward, health and wellness content will be integrated into our other brands, including Allure and Glamour,” Lynch said, referring to Condé Nast’s other beauty and wellness titles.

Self, which moved to an online-only format in 2017, still reaches more than 20m people each month.

The publication has also earned significant recognition over the years, including a National Magazine award and a Webby’s People’s Voice award.

The closure is part of a wider set of operational changes across the company. Lynch also announced the end of Wired’s Italy edition, noting that while the brand “remains a strong global brand, the Italian edition has not kept pace with growth in our other markets”.

Condé Nast will also wind down Glamour’s publishing operations in Germany, Spain and Mexico.

Lynch said: “Taken together, Wired in Italy, Self and the affected Glamour markets represent a little over 1 per cent of our overall revenue.

“They also remain unprofitable, and continuing to operate them in their current form limits our ability to invest in the ideas and areas that will drive future growth.”

Beyond editorial changes, the company is also restructuring internally to adapt to technological shifts.

Lynch said Condé Nast would make “changes within our technology organisation, reflecting the rapid advancement of AI and its impact on our ability to innovate and build products faster”, adding: “Teams will be restructured to be more agile and to work more closely with our brands and customers, reducing barriers to execution.”

The latest moves follow a series of transformations at Condé Nast in recent years.

Glamour ended its print edition in 2018, followed by Allure moving to a digital-only format in 2022.

In 2024, music publication Pitchfork was folded into GQ, the company’s men’s style magazine.

More recently, last November, Vogue, one of Condé Nast’s key revenue drivers, announced it would absorb Teen Vogue to create a more “unified reader experience across titles”.

The media industry has been shrinking steadily over the years.

From 2010 to 2017, the industry lost an average of 7,305 jobs annually, according to data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas published in December 2025.

Since 2018, the average number of job cuts in the industry has risen to 14,298 a year.

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GSK ovarian and womb cancer drug shows promise in early trial

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GSK said its ovarian cancer drug shrank or cleared tumours in more than 60 per cent of patients in an early trial as CCO Luke Miels pushes faster development.

The company said that in an early-stage trial, Mocertatug Rezetecan, known as Mo-Rez, shrank or eliminated tumours in 62 per cent of patients with ovarian cancer after chemotherapy had failed, and in 67 per cent of those with endometrial cancer.

Hesham Abdullah, GSK’s global head of cancer research and development, said: “Treatment of gynaecological cancers remains a major challenge, with a pressing need for new therapies that offer improved response rates.

“With Mo-Rez we now have compelling evidence of a promising clinical profile.”

GSK acquired the Mo-Rez treatment, an antibody-drug conjugate, from China’s Hansoh Pharma in late 2023 and has trialled it in 224 patients around the world, including the UK, over the past year.

Only a few patients needed to stop treatment because of side effects, the most common being nausea.

It is given every three weeks by intravenous infusion, meaning directly into a vein.

Combined with data from a separate intermediate trial in China, the results have given the British drugmaker the confidence to go straight to late-stage trials, with five clinical studies planned globally in the next few months, including on patients in the UK.

Speaking to journalists before the conference, Abdullah described Mo-Rez as a “key asset” in the company’s growing cancer portfolio.

It is expected to be a blockbuster drug, with peak annual sales of more than £2bn, which GSK hopes will help it achieve its 2031 sales target of £40bn.

A few years ago GSK did not have any cancer drugs on the market, but it now has four approved medicines and 13 in clinical development.

Last year, oncology generated nearly £2bn in sales, up 43 per cent from 2024, with sales of its endometrial cancer drug Jemperli rising 89 per cent.

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Self-employment linked to better cardiovascular health outcomes in Hispanic women

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Self-employment is linked to lower rates of high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, poor health and binge drinking in Hispanic women, research suggests.

The findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal Ethnicity & Disease, suggest work structure may be related to cardiovascular disease risk among this group.

Dr Kimberly Narain is assistant professor of medicine in the division of general internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, senior author of the study, and director of health services and health optimisation research for the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Center.

She said: “Hispanic women experience a disproportionate burden of heart disease compared to non-Hispanic women. This is the first study to link the structure of work with risks for heart disease among this group of women.”

The researchers examined 2003 to 2022 data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to assess the association between self-employment, cardiovascular disease risk factors and health outcomes for Hispanic women.

The data included 165,600 Hispanic working women. Of those, about 21,000, or 13 per cent, were self-employed rather than working for wages or a salary.

Overall, the researchers found that self-employed women were less likely to report cardiovascular-disease-associated health problems.

They were also about 11 per cent more likely to report exercising compared with their non-self-employed counterparts.

Specifically, they found that self-employed Hispanic women had a 1.7 percentage point lower chance of reporting diabetes, roughly a 23 per cent decline.

They also had a 3.3 percentage point lower chance of reporting hypertension, roughly a 17 per cent decline.

The study also found a 5.9 percentage point lower chance of reporting obesity, roughly a 15 per cent decline.

It found a 2.0 percentage point lower chance of reporting binge drinking, roughly a 2 per cent decline.

It also found a 2.5 percentage point lower chance of reporting poor or fair overall health, roughly a 13 per cent decline.

The relationship between heart disease risks and the structure of work among Hispanic women was not driven by access to healthcare or differences in income, Narain said.

In fact, the decrease in high blood pressure linked to self-employment was nearly as large as the decrease in high blood pressure linked to being in the highest income group.

The study has some limitations.

The researchers relied on self-reported outcomes, which might be less reliable among ethnic and racial minorities and those from a lower socioeconomic background.

In addition, the researchers’ definition of poor mental health does not entirely match the accepted definition in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

They also did not have data allowing them to examine the specific types of occupations held by the women.

The study design also cannot prove any causal relationship between self-employment and cardiovascular disease risk, which is a subject the researchers will explore.

“The next step in the research is to conduct studies that are able to better assess if the structure of work is a cause of higher heart disease risks among Hispanic women.”

Narain said this.

Study co-authors are Lisette Collins, who led the research, and Dr Frederick Ferguson of UCLA.

Grants from the Iris Cantor-UCLA Women’s Health Center-Leichtman-Levine-TEM program and the UCLA National Clinician Scholars Program supported the research.

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