The slide on the left shows the decreasing death rate from heart attack and stroke in men while it is increasing in women. The slide on the right shows that there are more men diagnosed with heart disease and stroke than women. If these conditions were more common in men than in women, why are more women dying than men?
There are many reasons:
1. Under-diagnosis and under-treatment of women at risk for heart attack and stroke;
2. Most high risk women are unaware of their risk;
3. Lack of awareness that most heart attacks and strokes are now largely preventable;
4. Women's noncompliance with treatment because of unfounded fear of potential side effects;
5. Physician's lack of aware of women's risk;
6. Physician's difficulty complying with the NCEP ATP III guidelines;
7. Insurance non-coverage for prevention;
8. Lack of a practical clinical management system to treat patient to specific numerical target goals.
Simplistic one dimensional approach that is focused primarily on educating women has not and will not solve this problem. Lack of public awareness is only one aspect of the problem.
Medical insurance provides coverage for annual mammography to detect early breast cancer but not for testing to detect heart disease at it early stages. Yet the risk of women dying from heart attack or stroke is 14 times greater than breast cancer.
There is a need for a specialized approach in dealing with the problem of heart disease in women that goes beyond the Red Dress Campaign. NJ Women's Heart Center is a comprehensive solution to this nationwide problem.
