NATIONAL WEAR RED DAY: Friday to Support Women's Heart Disease Awareness

Native News Network Staff in Native Health. Discussion »

February 3

BETHESDA, MARYLAND - As part of February is American Heart Month, The Heart Truth will celebrate the 10th National Wear Red Day, when Americans nationwide wear red to show their support for women's heart disease awareness. American Indian and Alaska Native women are encouraged to participate in this awareness effort.

This year, the campaign is again encouraging women to take a photo of themselves or a group and share their heart health action online. For more information, visit The Heart Truth's Facebook page.

In addition, The Heart Truth will co-host a Twitter chat about heart health with Million Hearts and the American Heart Association from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm est. To join the conversation, follow @thehearttruth and look for the hashtag #heartchat.

More women are finding out their personal risk for developing heart disease - in 2009, 48 percent reported discussing heart disease with their doctor, up from 30 percent in 1997. Data also show that women who are aware that heart disease is their number one killer were 35 percent more likely to be physically active and 47 percent more likely to report losing excess weight than women who were unaware.

A new paper published in the January 26 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine adds to the substantial body of evidence that people can reduce their chances of developing cardiovascular disease through lifelong prevention and management of risk factors. In one of the largest-ever analyses of lifetime risks for CVD, NHLBI-supported researchers found that middle aged adults who have one or more elevated traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high blood pressure, have a substantially greater chance of having a major cardiovascular disease event, such as heart attack or stroke, during their remaining lifetime than people with optimal levels of risk factors.

For example, women with at least two major risk factors were three times as likely to die from cardiovascular disease as women with none or one risk factor (20.5 percent vs. 6.4 percent).

posted February 2, 2012 6:00 am est