This World Heart Day, Her Heart continues to campaign in order to raise awareness that heart disease is the biggest killer of women in Australia, that one in three women are diagnosed with this disease and it claims one life every hour.
In 2020/21, nearly 50,000 Australian women were hospitalised due to heart disease, one of the leading single causes of hospitalisation for women in Australia. In the same year, more than 19,000 women were hospitalised with a heart attack and more than 12,600 Australian women lost their lives.
Research shows that women are under-diagnosed and under-treated. They have little or no awareness that they are at risk. Professor Worrall-Carter, Founder and CEO of Her Heart says that “more than a million women are at high risk of a heart event in the next five years, and unfortunately this includes those with no history of cardiovascular disease. We also know that the biggest increase we are seeing is in women aged 35-54, which is a lot younger than people think, these statistics need to change”.
Her Heart offers online resources and tools specifically for women “we wanted to be able to offer our community a risk tool that they could do at any time of the day” says Prof Worrall-Carter. A review of all Global Risk Tools found that they were designed for both men and women, despite women having very different risk profiles.
Prof Worrall-Carter goes on to say “Today we are thrilled to launch a World First, this online Heart Risk Assessment Tool has been specifically designed and engineered for women”. It includes all aspects of risk assessment such as those with a family history of heart disease, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Given that heart disease is over 80% preventable, an important feature of this risk tool is that it takes into account lifestyle factors such as smoking, diet, exercise, all of which are critical for making change.
The tool works by calculating your actual age and heart age based on the information that is submitted, it then identifies the appropriate risk level. “We are encouraging women to sign up through the Her Heart online membership portal and complete the online risk tool. I believe that there can be little benefit in doing a test and finding out you are at risk if you aren’t encouraged to make a follow up appointment with your GP and receive ongoing support to make the changes that you need”.
Sources:
AIHW, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/hospitals/principal-diagnosis-data-cubes/contents/data-cubes ABS, Causes of Death 2020. Released Sept 2021
ABOUT HER HEART
Her Heart is Australia’s Peak Body and the go-to-place for Australian women to access the latest research findings, clinical information, health and lifestyle advice around heart disease for women. We encourage everyone to join our community and sign up to be a member as this helps us fund our awareness campaigns and programs. For more information about our new membership and sign up for the Heart Risk Tool, please visit https://herheart.org/membership/premium/.
ABOUT PROFESSOR LINDA WORRALL-CARTER
Professor Linda Worrall-Carter is Founder & CEO of Her Heart, Australia’s Peak Body and a non-profit organisation that combines expert advice and information with innovative programs and opportunities to educate women on the risks of heart disease. Linda is a leading authority on Cardiovascular Health for Women. Originally from the UK she has a background in nursing, a PhD and Master’s in teaching and has a research track record around women and CVD. Possessing substantial leadership experience, she has held a number of senior executive positions; these include Foundation Director of two Nursing Research Centres plus a multidisciplinary Cardiovascular Research Centre. In these and other roles, she has acted as Chair of a Board, Advisory Board, and Chair of Steering Committees. https://herheart.org/dr-linda- worrall-carter/