ORLANDO – Women’s awareness of the health risk posed by heart disease has stalled, with fully 45% of participants in a nationally representative survey being unaware that heart disease is the number-one killer of U.S. women.
The survey of 1,011 women was commissioned by the Women’s Heart Alliance. The results have provided the group with fresh ideas about how to increase awareness and motivate women to ask their physicians about their heart health, Dr. Holly S. Andersen said in an interview at the American Heart Association scientific sessions.
A key survey finding was that only 27% of women were able to name a woman in their life with heart disease. Even fewer – a mere 11% – could name a woman who has died from it. But the women who had that personal connection to heart disease were 50% more likely to describe themselves as “somewhat or very concerned” about their own risk, and they were also more likely to have asked their physicians about it.
One important strategy going forward will be to focus public education efforts on making heart disease more real and personal for women in an effort to encourage them to learn their personal risk status and take action as warranted, according to Dr. Andersen, scientific adviser to the Women’s Heart Alliance and a cardiologist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.