According to the American Heart Association’s Heart Disease and
Stroke Statistics, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is still the
United States number one killer of men and women of all ethnic
groups. The statistical update for 2005 utilized the statistics
compiled for 2002, or the most recent year that data are
available. Cardiovascular diseases include high blood pressure,
arrhythmia, valve disease, congestive heart failure and stroke.
Coronary heart disease (CHD) or hardening of the arteries is the
largest killer of Americans. There were 494.4 thousand coronary
heart disease deaths in 2002 including 179.5 thousand deaths
from heart attack. The deaths from CHD included 241.6 thousand
females of which 25.9 thousand were Black females. The number of
deaths from strokes for Black females was 9.6 thousand.
CVD* Profile: * 1 in 4 females has some form of cardiovascular
disease. * Since 1984, the number of CVD deaths for females has
exceeded those for males. * In 2002 CVD caused the deaths of
493, 623 females compared with 433,825 males. Females represent
53.2 percent of deaths from CVD. * In the United States in 2002,
all cardiovascular diseases combined claim the lives of 493,623
females while all forms of cancer combined to kill 268,503
females. Breast cancer claimed the lives of 41,514 females; lung
cancer claimed 67,542. * The 2002 overall death rate from CVD
was 320.5. Death rates were ¬–265.6 for white females –368.1
for black females. * *In 2002 cardiovascular disease was the
first listed diagnosis of 3,164,000 females discharged from
short-stay hospitals. Discharges include people both living and
dead. The risk factors for CVD are not only common in the
African America community, they are also preventable. These
factors include high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol
profile, overweight & obesity, abnormal blood glucose and the
use of tobacco. Risk factors are preventable at an early age,
before manifesting as cardiovascular disease later.
Lifestyle choices for prevention include but are not limited to:
* Exercising 30 minutes daily * Eat vegetables, fruits and
grains * Eat a low fat, low carbohydrate, low cholesterol, low
salt diet * Eat fish, lean meats, poultry * Drink eight glasses
of water daily * Eliminate processed foods, sugar, pastry *
Reduce life stressors and/or reaction to stressors * Engage in
spiritual activities * Give community service Due to the urgent
need for ongoing intervention to reverse the trend of increasing
numbers of diabetes and obesity, heart disease and stroke, I
have partnered with the American Heart Association to provide a
community awareness program to help improve the health and
wellness of community residents. This program revolves around
the National Go Red for Women and Heart Health initiatives. To
help raise the awareness of community residents and its members
at large, of the need for heart health and the prevention of CAD
in women, I encourage women to join me on February 3 by wearing
red, in accordance with the American Heart Association’s
National Go Red for Women Day. In addition I ask women to
schedule an appointment for themselves and family members to see
their nurse practitioner, internist, or pediatrician.
_____________________________ *Source: The American Heart
Association