Examining Women's Health: 1996-1997.

Heart disease, lung cancer, and HIV infection are among the diseases previously thought to be primarily men's health problems that have been documented in recent years to be serious health problems for women. Researchers have reported that women with heart disease have poorer outcomes and receive less intensive therapy than men. Clinicians and consumers are just beginning to realize that cardiac disease is the #1 cause of death in women -- outpacing breast cancer. In the breast cancer arena, the impact of such genetic links as BRCA1 and BRCA2 is still unclear, as is the issue of screening mammograms for women under the age of 50. Other top issues in women's health include efforts to ban "drive through" deliveries and early postmastectomy discharge, calculation of the high price of prematurity, changes in Pap screening techniques, and continuing efforts to understand the effects of estrogen. This editorial examines the key issues and trends in women's health reported and debated in 1996.