Women unaware heart disease number one killer of Australian women

Research commissioned by the Heart Foundation NSW has confirmed that 72% of women in New South Wales are unaware that heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in Australia.

“Heart disease continues to be the number one killer of Australian women,” said Tony Thirlwell, Heart Foundation chief executive officer NSW, at this morning’s Go Red For Women Breakfast at Sydney’s Four Seasons Hotel.

“However, only one in four (28%) Australian women
recently surveyed correctly identified heart disease as the leading cause of death.

“What is really alarming is that there has been little shift in women’s awareness since 2003,” said Thirlwell.

On average heart disease kills almost 220 women per week or 31
Australian women each day. Women are also four times more likely to die of heart disease than breast cancer.

Yet the Newspoll survey indicates 56% of women believed that
breast cancer was the leading cause of death. When asked about factors that can cause or contribute to increasing the risk of heart disease, the top of mind risk factors mentioned most commonly by women were unhealthy eating (57%), smoking ( 54%), and being overweight or obese (48%). Significantly fewer women identified cholesterol (15%), high blood pressure (15%) and diabetes (4%) as major risk factors that can contribute to the risk of heart disease in women.

“Women are often so busy thinking about the health of their partners and family that they neglect their own health,” said Thirlwell. “ Only one in five women surveyed (20%) had discussed heart disease with a doctor,” he said.