Deaths of American women from heart disease declines

AORN Journal, April, 2007

The number women dying from heart disease in the United States is declining, according to a Feb 1, 2007, news release from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Data show that the number of American women who die from heart disease decreased from one in three women to one in four women (ie, a decrease of nearly 17,000 deaths) from 2003 to 2004. Researchers also found that the number of deaths of US women from heart disease has declined each year from 2000 to 2004. Also in 2004, the life expectancy at birth for women reached an all-time high of 80.4 years.

Despite increased awareness that heart disease is the leading killer of women (ie, from 34% awareness in 2000 to 55% awareness in 2005), many women still do not take heart disease seriously or personally. Eighty percent of women aged 40 to 60 years have one or more of the controllable risk factors that can dramatically increase their risk of developing the disease, including

* high blood pressure,

* high blood cholesterol,

* diabetes,

* smoking,

* being overweight or obese, and

* being physically inactive.

A woman's chance of developing heart disease doubles if she has one of these risk factors; having three or more risk factors increases a woman's risk tenfold.

Heart Disease Deaths in American Women Decline [news release]. Bethesda, Md: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; February 1, 2007. Available at: http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/feb2007/nhlbi-01.htm. Accessed March 1, 2007.