The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners on May 13 announced the launch of a program to promote the importance of screening young women for von Willebrand disease. The VWD Young Women’s Education Campaign is designed to inform teenage girls and their healthcare providers about the five signs and symptoms of VWD, the most common hereditary bleeding disorder.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that VWD affects 1% to 2% or as many as 6 million people in the U.S. Although VWD affects men and women equally, women are at risk for miscarriage, life-threatening bleeding after childbirth and unnecessary hysterectomies.

“Women struggle with the consequences of this disorder for an average of 16 years before they receive a proper diagnosis because sometimes healthcare professionals interpret VWD symptoms as gynecologic,” Josie Weiss, FNP-BC, PhD, associate professor, Christine E. Lyn College of Nursing at Florida Atlantic University, said in a news release.

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