Roughly 133 million Americans-nearly one in two adults-live with at least one chronic illness. Some of the biggest offenders are cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and mental illness (e.g., Alzheimer's Disease). As an individual well versed in the health care arena (I was a dietetics major in college, my mother is a nurse, and I have seven years of professional experience in the health care arena), those statistics, while serious, were not overwhelmingly surprising to me. So I was shocked, to say the least, when I recently heard a healthy 31 year old woman recount the story of her massive heart attack.
Earlier this month, I attended an event on Capitol Hill on "The Path to Health Care Equity" sponsored by The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, in association with Association of Black Cardiologist, Mended Hearts and WomenHeart.
The event kicked off with U.S. Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) discussing his commitment to improve awareness of cardiovascular disease as a whole, but primarily among racial and ethnic minorities. His words set the stage for what was quickly transforming into a rather sobering event.
The moderator then introduced a woman who spoke of having a heart attack three days after giving birth to her son. From a clinical perspective, she was unremarkable in her appearance. She was seemingly healthy - she was not overweight and was only 31! Most importantly, she didn't describe the "typical" symptoms I'm accustomed to hearing: shooting pain in your arm, chest tightness, shortness of breath, etc. Instead, she described back pain and nausea. When she first complained of her discomfort to her husband, he reminded her that she had just given birth and was likely not to feel well. After taking OTC medication and trying to lie down, her feeling that "something just wasn't right" became overwhelming. She called for an ambulance and that decision saved her life.
Also at this event, Marcos Pesquera, Executive Director of Adventist HealthCare Center on Disparities, quoted a few statistics from the Institute of Medicine that demonstrate that racial and ethnic minorities are less likely to seek care when experiencing symptoms and more likely to refuse treatment from a health care provider.
According to the American Heart Association, women are somewhat more likely to experience some of the other common symptoms, particularly nausea/vomiting and back or jaw pain. Mayo Clinic cardiologist, Dr. Sharonne Hayes recently said in a podcast, "It's definitely true that women are more likely [to die of a heart attack than men] and particularly younger women. Men and women who are 70 years old have equal likelihood of having a heart attack, but younger women are more likely to die from a heart attack. And overall, more women than men have died each year since 1984 of heart disease.
Threading all of these elements together, the conclusion from a communications and healthcare professional (and woman!) is simple - there is work to be done in communicating cardiovascular disparities to the general public. You might recall this year's Super Bowl ad which featured New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez highlighting the differences between warning signs of men's and women's heart attacks. A PSA during the Super Bowl is a definite step in the right direction, but we've got a long way to go.
We need to do a better job positioning prevention and awareness campaigns where the desired audience is more likely to receive the message. A few suggestions include:
- Reach out the way women want to receive information
- 42 million women in the United States (roughly 53% of the 79 million adult women in the United States who use the Internet) participate in social media at least weekly.
- As they spend more time with social media, Women are spending correspondingly less time with traditional media: 39 percent less on newspapers, 36 percent less time reading magazines, and 30 percent less time watching TV.
- Leverage the most active and vocal users to spread a message
- The women who post to blogs are the most actively engaged. They spend the most time online. Over 80 percent also participate in social networks like Facebook, and over one third of bloggers also participate in Twitter.
The heart of the matter in cardiovascular disease, especially as it relates to racial and ethnic minorities, goes back to senator Cardin's opening remarks - awareness and prevention. Digital technology and online strategies provide us with the opportunity to affect change through delivery models that target the ever-multi-tasking entity known as a woman.
Dayna Hochstein, Practice Manager, Chronic Disease
