Research Sounds The Drumbeat For Women And Heart Disease Risk

Main Category: Cardiovascular / Cardiology
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;  Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 06 May 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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Although one of every 2.4 deaths in American women is caused by cardiovascular disease, the majority don't know it is their leading killer. Stereotypes, lack of education, denial and unhealthy lifestyles have collided to create a perfect storm of looming danger for many women who simply are not aware of their risks.

In the April 2008 issue of MEDSURG Nursing, Shay A. Schroetter and Susan D. Peck stack up the evidence and recent studies on coronary artery disease (CAD) and women, and the data clearly point to an urgent need to take off the blinders. The authors also emphasize that health care providers need to ratchet up the education and counseling they offer women when seeing them in primary care settings.

Schroetter and Peck pinpoint three areas in their research: women's perceptions about their susceptibility, their actual risk factors and their perceived barriers to heart-healthy behaviors. The authors found most women think breast cancer poses their greatest risk of death, and assume that heart disease aims its arrow mostly at overweight, stressed out men who smoke. Second, women are poorly informed about the major risk factors, namely hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, smoking, obesity and lack of exercise. Last, the research shows, women tend to put others' needs before their own health care.

Solutions to making women aware lie with public programs, such as the "Go Red for Women" campaign conducted by the American Heart Association, more heart-healthy education provided by nurses and action by physicians and other health care providers to include more intensive heart-related assessments into primary care, the authors say.

Women's Risk of Heart Disease: Promoting Awareness and Prevention - A Primary Care Approach
Shay A. Schroetter, MSN, RN, CNP, and Susan D. Peck, PhD, RN, GNP-BC, CHTP, CHt
MEDSURG Nursing April 2008 - http://www.medsurgnurse.org

About MEDSURG Nursing - The Journal of Adult Health

MEDSURG Nursing, The Journal of Adult Health, is the official journal of the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN). The journal provides its readers with the multidisciplinary information they need to provide clinically excellent patient care and to enhance their nursing practice. MEDSURG Nursing supports adult health/medical-surgical nurses as they strive for excellence in patient care, private practice, and outpatient health care settings in urban, suburban, and rural locations. Each peer-reviewed issue of MEDSURG Nursing features a comprehensive discussion and description of today's clinical issues in adult health/medical-surgical nursing. MEDSURG Nursing and AMSN are committed to the advancement of adult health/medical-surgical nursing practice. The journal is published six times a year.

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