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American Heart Month --- February 2008
February is American Heart Month. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Women account
for 47.1% of deaths related to heart disease
(1). In 2005, an estimated 16 million persons in the United States were
living with coronary heart disease, and 8.1 million reported ever having had a myocardial infarction (i.e., heart attack)
(1). Although the major heart attack signs and symptoms are similar for men and women, women are more likely to
experience the less common symptoms and delay seeking emergency treatment. Receipt of prompt, appropriate treatment
greatly increases the chance of surviving a heart attack
(2,3).
CDC funds heart disease and stroke prevention programs in health departments in 33 states and the District of
Columbia. A primary activity of these programs is conducting campaigns to increase public awareness of heart attack signs
and symptoms and the importance of calling 9-1-1 when experiencing these symptoms.
Information regarding heart disease is available from the American Heart Association at
http://www.americanheart.org and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov. Information regarding CDC
heart disease programs is available at http://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp.
References
- American Heart Association. Heart disease and stroke statistics---2008 update. Dallas, TX: American Heart Association; 2008. Available at
http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/reprint/117/4/e25.
- National Institutes of Health; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Women and heart attack. Available at
www.nhlbi.nih.gov/actintime/haws/women.htm.
- Mensah GA, Hand MM, Antman EM, Ryan Jr TJ, Schriever R, Smith Jr SC. Development of systems of care for ST-elevation myocardial
infarction patients: the patient and public perspectives. Circulation 2007;116:e33--e38.
Use of trade names and commercial sources is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services.
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provided as a service to MMWR readers and do not constitute or imply
endorsement of these organizations or their programs by CDC or the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. CDC is not responsible for the content
of pages found at these sites. URL addresses listed in MMWR were current as of
the date of publication. |
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Date last reviewed: 1/30/2008
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