National Wear Red Day to highlight heart disease, America’s number one killer
Emily Henry | 2-4-2010 | Comments |

Silent, strong, and deadly

In the U.S. and Europe, heart disease kills more people than any other form of death - natural or unnatural. The disease itself can linger undetected for years, and strike at any time in the form of a heart attack, a stroke or heart failure. Always debilitating and often fatal, heart disease is caused by a wide variety of factors, many of which have become worryingly akin to the Westernized lifestyle. Poor diet, obesity, smoking, lack of exercise, stress, and even alcohol can play their part in clogging arteries and inducing a malignant heart condition.

But awareness, according to the American Heart Association, is the first step towards prevention.

Friday, Feb. 5 is the American Heart Association's National Wear Red Day. The American Heart Association is promoting the event as part of its national "Go Red for Women" campaign, which aims to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke by 25 percent in the immediate future and "to change the perception that heart disease is a 'man's disease'."

Race and cardiovascular disease

Cardiovascular disease takes many forms, including high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, stroke and heart failure. But among all these strains of cardiovascular disease, African-American women are at far greater risk than any other race, according to the a study by the American Heart Association. A 2003 study by the San Francisco VA Medical Center suggested that African-American women were twice as likely to suffer a heart attack in comparison to white women. One of the main reasons for this disparity, concluded the study, is the lack of preventative care:

In a large cohort of women with heart disease, black women less often received appropriate preventive therapy and adequate risk factor control despite a greater CHD event risk. Interventions to improve appropriate therapy and risk factor control in all women, and especially black women, are needed.

Among Latino men and women, the risks associated with cardiovascular disease are proportionately lower than they are for the African-American population. In the U.S., 28.6 percent of Latino men and women died from heart disease or stoke, while that figure rises to 32.3 percent for the African-American population. The American Heart Association runs the "" program to target the more at-risk African-American and Latino populations and foster awareness about heart disease. Started in 1996, the Search Your Heart program works with more than 15,000 churches across the country in spreading information about prevention and treatment.

Living heart healthy

The "ABC's of Prevention" - avoid tobacco, be more active, choose good nutrition - are the foundation of the American Heart Association's recommendation for leading a heart-healthy lifestyle.

To read more about the ABC's of Prevention, visit the American Heart Association.

Photos courtesy of the American Heart Association.





Did you participate in National Wear Red Day? Would you like to tell us about your experience with heart disease? Email us at southla@usc.edu or leave a comment below.

Tags: american heart association death heart disease national wear red day women