Newswise — Cardiovascular disease is the single greatest health threat for women today " more than all cancers combined " and many doctors are not aware of this risk. A new national study of 1,000 Americans confirms that women and men are more aware than ever " in fact, more than half (59 percent) of women and nearly half of men (44 percent) know that heart disease is the leading cause of death among women. While this is good news, especially regarding significantly higher awareness among men, this survey, conducted by Pulse Opinion Research for the California Pistachio Commission (CPC) and the Association of Women's Heart Programs (AWHP), revealed an alarming fact " both men and women put a lot of faith in their own doctor's knowledge on the issue of women and heart disease, and more than a quarter (27 percent) of women in the survey feel protected against heart disease because they see their doctor regularly.
This data is cause for concern because it is in direct conflict with a recent American Heart Association (AHA) study* that showed that an overwhelming number of doctors do not necessarily know even the basic, important facts about women and heart disease. According to a 2005 AHA study (the most recent available data), only eight percent of primary care physicians and 17 percent of cardiologists knew that heart disease kills more women than men. The CPC/AWHP poll shows clearly that more Americans know this basic fact than even the physicians who specialize in heart care. Forty-two percent of women and 22 percent of men correctly identified that more women die each year from heart disease then men, a fact that has been true since 1984, according to the AHA. (*Source: National Study of Physician Awareness and Adherence to Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Guidelines (2005 American Heart Association)
In the study released today, the vast majority of men and women polled (82 percent) believe that their doctors know the critical, basic facts about heart disease in women. The CPC/AWHP national poll also confirms that educating the public about women and heart disease improves knowledge generally in both men and women. However, it also shows that the current public awareness campaigns have not fully reached the medical care community as evidenced by the large gap in knowledge.
"The good news is that national awareness campaigns like The Heart Truth and its Red Dress symbol are reaching more and more women and men with the message that cardiovascular disease is the single greatest health threat to women," said Dr. Susan Bennett, president of the AWHP and a leading expert on women's heart health. "Perhaps today's physicians are more aware about the issue since the AHA study was published two years ago, but millions of at-risk women are relying on their doctor to know all the facts about women's heart disease. There needs to be more of an emphasis on reaching the medical community with the message of prevention and treatment."
Dr. Bennett continues, "In our minds, we see thousands of educated and empowered women " and the men who care about them " crossing a bridge in search of cardiovascular disease prevention, women-focused diagnosis and care that is specific to women's hearts, their bodies and their needs. As an organization of women's heart programs, we are concerned that the medical care providers themselves are not prepared to meet the women on the bridge with knowledge and approaches to care to give them what they both need and seek. Our mission is to close this gap to provide better quality heart health care to women and to reduce the number of women who are dying from heart disease."
The CPC/AWHP heart health study found that many patients " especially women " say they are doing all the right things to stay heart healthy. A very large majority (83 percent) of women state they don't smoke, 44 percent exercise for 30 minutes at least three times a week and 62 percent select heart healthy foods all or most of the time. Three quarters of women polled in this survey know the difference between "good" and "bad" cholesterol and 60 percent of them are aware of the heart health benefits of eating nuts, like pistachios. All of these positive behaviors help reduce a woman's risk for cardiovascular disease. Yet this good news is troubling since well more than a third (40 percent) of women polled say they are personally at risk for heart disease and fewer than half (44 percent) have initiated a discussion about their heart health while visiting their doctor.
Many of the women polled exhibit cardiovascular risk factors associated with a disease that typically requires medical intervention. Nearly a third of the women (32 percent) say they have high blood pressure, 28 percent have high cholesterol and 15 percent report that they have diabetes.
"There is only so much women can do alone. Sometimes exercise and diet just aren't enough and our doctors, physician's assistants and nurses must intervene," said Dr. Bennett. "Those of us who run women's heart centers often see women who are left at risk with poorly monitored or controlled blood pressure and cholesterol. This has to be one of the factors in why so many women are dying of heart disease " at the very least, it represents lost opportunities to prevent devastating heart attacks and strokes."
The AWHP was founded in 2005 by Dr. Bennett and a number of nationally renowned cardiologists specializing in women's heart disease. The organization's mission is to promote the highest quality cardiovascular care for women by shaping new attitudes and behaviors on the part of medical care providers to benefit the nearly 13 million women who have been diagnosed with heart disease. According to the AWHP, despite the fact that clinical research has shown there are gender differences in the identification, management and outcomes of heart disease, there continues to be limited investment in gender-specific research, treatment, professional education or the dissemination of information to medical professionals or the general public.
Dr. Jennifer H. Mieres, Director of Nuclear Cardiology and Assistant Professor at New York School of Medicine and an AWHP Board Member explains, "Millions of women are disabled or at risk of heart disease each year. While cardiovascular disease is still considered to be primarily 'a man's disease' by the public and many health care providers, statistics prove otherwise. This new study reinforces the need to promote gender-specific heart health education to not only the general public but also to the family doctors treating them. These physicians have an important role in educating millions of women about their heart health."
The reduction in numbers of deaths in men from heart disease would lead to the conclusions that all doctors would agree that heart disease is preventable. However, the rate of death from heart disease in women is not coming down. According to the CPC/AWHP survey, nearly three quarters (72 percent) of Americans turn to their primary care/internal medicine or family doctor for matters of the heart, and only 20 percent seek help from a cardiologist. Just under half (48 percent) of those surveyed say that their doctor has not initiated a conversation about their cardiovascular health in the past five years, and a surprising 54 percent of Americans say they have never inquired about their own heart health while visiting the doctor. Alarmingly, more than half of women (54 percent) have not brought up the topic when visiting their physician. When looking at the survey results by age groups, the data is even more startling " in the 30 to 39 age group, 63 percent say their doctor has not initiated a conversation about heart disease. Though this number goes down as the population ages, in the 50 to 64 age group, still 42 percent report no doctor-initiated conversation about their risk of heart disease and 49 percent say they haven't brought it up to their doctor either."Men tend to think that it's more important that a doctor be knowledgeable, while women point to communication with their doctor as a more important factor," says Dr. Bennett. "Most people feel their doctor does not underestimate their risk of heart disease " but when it comes to women, it is clear that they do. What we uncovered from doing this national survey is the need to get the message out to not only patients but also the doctors that treat them."
February 1st marks the start of American Heart Month, a time when many organizations focus on raising awareness about this important health issue. States Karen Reinecke, President of the CPC, "Over the past several years, we've significantly raised awareness about the heart-healthy benefits of California pistachios through our support of The Heart Truth and many other women's heart health initiatives. We were very pleased to partner with the AWHP on this important national survey to further assess America's attitudes and opinions about heart health matters and their reliance on their doctors to know about women and heart disease. Dr. Bennett and her colleagues are doing such important work. With more than 350,000 women dying each year from this disease, it's vital that public education " and perhaps even more importantly " more rigorous education of medical care providers about this issue continue."
About the California Pistachio CommissionIn the summer of 2003, the U.S. FDA announced that eating most nuts, such as pistachios, may help reduce the risk of heart disease when eaten as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol. The California Pistachio Commission has been active in supporting the NHLBI's Red Dress campaign and raising much needed funding for women's heart health research through the sale of note cards designed by well-known actress Jane Seymour. It has conducted several heart health awareness initiatives with Dr. Susan Bennett and recently presented a $20,000 donation to the AWHP (generated by note card sales) for continued gender specific heart health research and education efforts. For more information, visit http://www.pistachios.org.
About the Association of Women's Heart ProgramsA nonprofit organization founded in 2005, the mission of the Association of Women's Heart Programs (AWHP) is to promote the highest quality cardiovascular care for women by shaping new attitudes and behaviors on the part of medical care providers. The AWHP hopes its efforts will benefit the nearly 13 million women 18 and older who have been diagnosed with heart disease. Despite the fact that clinical research has shown there are gender differences in the identification, management and outcomes of heart disease, there has been a limited investment in gender-specific research, treatment, professional education or the dissemination of information to medical professionals or the general public. For more information, visit http://www.heartcareforwomen.org.
Survey MethodologyThe national survey of 1,000 adults, 18 years of age or older, was conducted by Pulse Opinion Research January 17, 2007 using an automated polling methodology. Phone calls are placed to randomly selected phone numbers through a process that insures appropriate geographical representation. A weighting process is applied to the raw data to insure the sample accurately reflects the appropriate population in terms of age, race, gender, political affiliation and other factors. With a population of 1,000 adults the margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.
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