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Women's Heart Advantage Research Findings
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The Northern-California-specific data is taken from Sutter Health’s May 2003 survey in which 2,200 women ages 40 to 70 were randomly selected from our market to answer questions about their perceptions and experiences related to women’s heart disease. (Sutter also conducted a follow-up survey in November 2003 in which 971 women were interviewed and which showed similar findings.)
More than 80 percent of 40-to 70-year-old women in our Northern California region are potentially at risk for a first heart attack, according to a 2003 Sutter Health survey. However, only about one quarter of these women perceived themselves to be at risk.
- That means - more than 80 percent of Northern California women surveyed self-reported at least one factor that puts them at risk for heart disease.
Of the 2200 women in our sample:
- 63 (3 percent) had suffered from a heart attack
- 654 (30 percent) had been formally diagnosed or perceived themselves to be at-risk for heart disease
- 1293 (59 percent) identified a classic risk factor for heart disease but did not perceive themselves to be at-risk
- 190 (only 8 percent) reported no risk factors for heart disease
Our research also revealed the following:
- 54 percent of women reported that they are more than 20 pounds overweight
- 47 percent have a family history of heart disease
- 30 percent have high blood pressure and/or high cholesterol
- 15 percent smoke
Heart disease - not breast cancer - is the number one killer of women.
- Heart attacks take the lives of 267,000 women every year. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in women.
- Cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke, accounts for 43.3 percent of all female deaths. Breast cancer accounts for 4 percent of all female deaths.
- National statistics show that more women than men have died from heart attack since 1984.
- One in three American women die of heart disease.
- 8 million American women are living with heart disease.
- 435,000 American women have heart attacks every year.
- In the United States, coronary risk factors like obesity, diabetes and hypertension are on the rise among women.
- African American women ages 55 to 64 are twice as likely as white women to have a heart attack.
- Women who smoke risk having a heart attack 19 years earlier than non-smoking women.
- Women with diabetes are two to three times more likely to have heart attacks.
National data sources: National Center on Health Statistics; National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute; and American Heart Association's 2002 Heart and Stroke Statistical Update
Yet most women in Northern California aren’t aware that heart disease is their greatest health threat, according to this latest survey.
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