Experts Call for Better Prevention

      The American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology are recommending new education efforts and treatment programs to help women prevent heart disease.
      According to a recent survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, health-care professionals counsel women less often than men about nutrition, exercise and weight management.
      Statistics also show more women are obese, and that about 25 percent of women report no regular physical activity. And studies show smoking rates are declining more among men than among women.
      The groups are recommending that cholesterol-lowering drugs be administered as a first line of drug therapy instead of hormone replacement therapy to post-menopausal women who need to lower blood cholesterol levels.
      The Heart Association and College of Cardiology also are recommending improved efforts to identify women with diabetes who may be at risk for heart disease. And, they say, the target blood level for high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, the so-called "good" cholesterol, should be higher than the national recommendations.
      "Although more women die from coronary heart disease than from cancer or any other disease, we are missing many opportunities to reduce the risk of heart disease in women," says Dr. Lori Mosca, a Heart Association member and the director of preventive cardiology research and education at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. "There is a substantial gap between what we know and what we do to prevent heart disease in women. Because these consensus recommendations are both scientifically based and practical, they are an important step toward closing that gap."
      This report appears in the April 30/00 issue of Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Reference Source 63,71,89