GW Hospital's Washington DC Survey and American Heart Association's National Survey Present Consistent Findings on Women and Heart Disease

2/4/2004

From: Maureen Ryan of GW Hospital, 202-715-4447 or maureen.ryan@gwu-hospital.com

WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 -- The American Heart Association released findings of its national survey of women and heart disease awareness as the GW Hospital Women's Heart Program announced similar findings last week. While the American Heart Association found that 46 percent percent of women surveyed spontaneously listed heart disease as women's leading cause of death, the GW Hospital Women's Heart Program had a 55 percent response when women were given a choice of diseases. Thirty percent of the women in the GW study thought that breast cancer was the number one killer.

The AHA study conducted surveys of women aged 25 and older; the GW study's sample was aged 18 and older. Another consistent finding was that women from minority groups had a considerable lower level of awareness of women's risk for heart disease. "What we can glean from these studies is that while there is a continued increase in awareness among women, it isn't prompting them to get screened as they should, so we will continue to encourage doctors to advise their female patients to get screened regularly for heart disease," said Dr. Susan K. Bennett, Clinical Director of the Women's Heart Program and President of the Greater Washington Region Board of the AHA. "We also need to concentrate our efforts to reach out to minority populations that may not be getting the message."

Dr. Bennett added that if cardiovascular risk factors were fully addressed, she estimated that over 80 percent of the disease would be eliminated.

Dr. Bennett and Dr. Judith Hsia, Director of Scientific Research for the Women's Heart Program at GW Hospital, are available for interviews. For more information about the GW Hospital heart study and Heart Month activities, please contact Maureen Ryan, Communications Manager at GW Hospital, at 202-715- 4447, 877-912-2508 or maureen.ryan@gwu-hospital.com.