Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics 2010 Update (American Heart Association, December 17, 2009) has been issued just in time for American Heart Month, and the news is sobering. Despite the fact that there may be broader awareness in the population about women’s heart disease, there are still disparities in how women are diagnosed and treated, translating into more than 42 million women currently living with heart disease in the United States.

According to the report, one woman dies every minute from cardiovascular disease in the United States.

•Heart disease is the leading cause of death of American women.
•More women than men die of heart disease each year.
•35.3% of deaths in American women over the age of 20, or more than 432,000, are caused by cardiovascular disease each year.
•More than 200,000 women die each year from heart attacks- nearly five times as many women as breast cancer.
•Women are less likely than men to receive appropriate treatment after a heart attack.
•Women comprise only 27% of participants in all heart-related research studies.
•58% of Caucasian women, 80% of African-American women, and 74% Hispanic-American women are overweight or obese.
•Women with diabetes are 2.5 times more likely to have heart attacks.
•48% of adult women have total cholesterol of at least 200mg/dL.
•50% of Caucasian women, 64% of African-American women, 60% of Hispanic women, and 53% of Asian/Pacific Islander women are sedentary and get no leisure time physical activity.
•African-American women, despite their higher risk of heart disease, were 10% less likely to receive aspirin and 27% less likely to receive cholesterol-lowering drugs.
•Some medications to treat hypertension in African-American patients work better and some work worse compared to Caucasian patients.
•Among African-American women over the age of 20, 44.8% have high blood pressure.
•Compared with Caucasian women, Hispanic women are nearly three times as likely to be uninsured.
•Prevalence for diabetes in Mexican-American women is two times higher than Caucasian women.

Looking for more info about Women and Heart Disease visit www.heart-strong.com

The 34th Great American Smokeout, sponsored by the American Cancer Society, is scheduled to take place Nov. 19, 2009.  The purpose of this day is to help smokers quit by giving up tobacco for one full day with the hope that they will one day quit completely.
Although lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in both men and women, it is the most preventable form of cancer.  The American Cancer Society estimates that 161,000 people will die from lung cancer this year and there will be 220,000 new cases diagnosed.  How is this form of cancer prevented? The key is to never start smoking.  However, if you do smoke, quitting will decrease your risk of developing lung cancer.  Quitting also decreases your risk for heart attack and stroke.
 Two helpful websites with resources to help you quit smoking are:
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/subsite/greatamericans/index.asp
http://www.smokefree.gov/
JOIN THE GREAT AMERICAN SMOKEOUT on 11/19/09!!!!! 

YOU CAN DO IT!!!