Barriers to Screening, Diagnosis, and Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in Women Veterans

Veterans are known to be at high risk for cardiovascular disease. Women veterans are not only a part of this specialty group, but as they are women-they face some unique experiences and barriers to cardiovascular care that their male counterparts do not. The purpose of this article is to identify barriers as well as facilitators to screening, prevention, and diagnosis of cardiovascular care to women veterans.

A literature review was conducted, utilizing the keywords "veterans" AND "female" AND "cardiovascular disease or heart disease" AND "screening or prevention or diagnosis" in CINAHL and PubMed; as well as a search in SCOPUS using "barriers" AND "veteran" AND "female" AND "Cardiovascular."

Patient-level barriers included social determinant of health determinant issues, lack of social support, being unaware of their risk of cardiovascular disease or how to implement heart-healthy diet and exercise, and gender bias via the Veterans Affairs staff or provider. Provider level barriers included not having enough time with the patient, not having information on resources for women veterans that are available, the electronic medical record not having screening tools for the provider and patient to use together for discussion or not having the ability to communicate the risk education and recommendations.

The gaps in care brought to light in this article make the case for patient and provider tools that include considerations such as mental health, gender-specific care, and education surrounding their risk status and how to access resources to implement healthy lifestyle changes.