The Yale School of Public Health and Medicine has chosen Los Robles Hospital to participate in a four-year study of young women with heart disease.

The National Institutes of Health will provide a $9.7-million grant for the project.

Los Robles will participate along with 119 leading health institutions such as Stanford University Medical Center, New York University School of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the University of Southern California/L.A. County Hospital.

Known as the VIRGO study (Variation in Recovery: role of Gender on Outcomes in Young AMI Patients), it's the largest, most comprehensive investigation of young women with heart attacks to identify key determinants of recovery and discover knowledge that will assist in improving care patients. It will enroll 2,000 young women and 1,000 men for comparison.

According to Vishva Dev, MD, medical director of cardiovascular services, Los Robles Hospital, heart attack, though uncommon in young women, is still the leading cause of death in women under age 55.

Women under age 55 with heart attacks account for about 40,000 hospitalizations each year. Approximately 8,000 deaths are annually attributed to ischemic heart disease in young women under 55 years of age.

Coordinating the study at Los Robles is Nancy Helm Weeks, registered nurse and database manager/research coordinator. In collaboration with the multidisciplinary research team from Yale University and leading investigators from other institutions, Weeks will address questions ranging from genetics to clinical care and outcomes, including gender differences in health, medical issues, quality of care and outcomes.