U.S.
Food and Drug Administration
FDA Consumer magazine
January-February 2003
Table of Contents
Heart disease is the number one cause of death for women--but it doesn't have to be. That is the message of a Web site called "The Heart Truth," created by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to give women an urgent wake-up call about the risks of heart disease and how to lower them. The site aims to alert all women, but especially those ages 40 to 60--the prime risk years for developing heart disease--that it is never too late to improve heart health, even for those who have already had a heart attack. Younger women also will learn from the site that heart disease develops gradually and may start as early as the teen-age years. And those who have heart disease can help improve their heart health and quality of life by following tips found on the site.
To help drive its point home, "The Heart Truth" features personal stories about heart disease from eight women. Some of these women describe their experiences with having a heart attack; others tell about measures they are taking to avoid one. The site also has an interactive questionnaire to help answer the question, "Are you at an increased risk of having a heart attack?"
The site also has the latest information on menopause--a time when a woman's risk of heart disease starts to rise. The risks for other health problems such as osteoporosis and breast cancer also increase. Web pages with the latest information on the use of hormone therapy during and after menopause, as well as alternative approaches to treating menopausal symptoms, also are featured.
To learn more about women and heart disease, go to "The Heart Truth."
The FDA has put dozens of the agency's Spanish-language publications within easy reach on a new Web site at www.fda.gov/oc/spanish/. All the agency's areas of responsibility--foods, drugs, biologics, medical devices, and veterinary medicine--are represented. The site's subjects include:
The site also links to general information about health conditions such as diabetes, the flu, and hearing loss.
Nearly 17 million people have diabetes in the United States, and the number is increasing. On average, workers with diabetes miss about 8.3 days of work a year, compared with 1.7 missed days by people without the disease. This accounts for about 14 million disability days a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
To help ease the burden of diabetes in the workplace, a new Web site, www.diabetesatwork.org, presents materials on the latest trends in disease management, work site wellness strategies, and other interactive tools for on-the-job diabetes management. Among the offerings are helpful fact sheets on topics such as diabetes myths, foot and skin care, eating out with diabetes, and what to do after getting a diabetes diagnosis. The site also has a section with tips on how to choose the best health plan for management of the disease and how to prevent complications such as kidney disease and blindness.
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