Issue link: http://accesshealth.uberflip.com/i/1339423
PAGE 8 February - March 2021 (© puhhha - stock.adobe.com) Anyone at least 40 years old may recall this catchy commercial jingle: "I can put the wash on the line, feed the kids, get dressed, pass out the kisses and get to work by five of nine …Cause I'm a woman, Enjoli." The popular Enjoli perfume brand that made waves in the late 70s, also came out with these lyrics: "I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan, and never, ever let you forget you're a man, because I'm a woman, Enjoli." The tag line for this commercial depicted the sign of the times, "The eight-hour perfume for the 24-hour woman." (Watch this commercial on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_kzJ-f5C9U) The '70s and '80s continued to fuel a turning point for women as they more became heads of households, or at the very least, provided a secondary source of income that was crucial to keeping family finances solvent. Likewise, June Cleaver and Edith Bunker caricatures were replaced with characters from shows like Murphy Brown, Designing Women, and even the Golden Girls. As the so-called "traditional" women's role changed in TV land and in real households, something else was rising to the surface: heart disease. The American Heart Association (AHA) commemorates women's heart health with Go Red For Women the first Friday each February. The day is important considering nearly 80 percent of cardiac events can be prevented, and cardiovascular disease is a woman's greatest health threat. The entire month of February is devoted to heart disease awareness. And for good reason. It was only recently that heart disease awareness, once considered a man's disease, was attributed to women. By Tonia Wright, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief According to the North Carolina Medical Journal (NCMJ), cardiovascular textbooks of the 1970s and 1980s did not mention the diagnosis and treatment of women with cardiovascular disease. Similarly, a survey of magazines that women might read (roughly 150-170 magazines) published in the early 2000s ran more than 100 articles on breast cancer compared with 10-15 articles on heart disease, according to NCMJ. Even more noteworthy, the Journal said during the same period only one in three health care providers were aware of the increased risk of cardiovascular disease among women – or counseled their patients on primary prevention. Now the word is out. With help from the Go Red For Women annual campaign that started in the early 2000s, cardiovascular disease among women is declining. However, the numbers are still too high. [Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of women — killing approximately one woman every minute — causing one in three deaths a year, according to AHA.] Comparatively, 1 in 31 American women die from breast cancer each year. Just the facts from AHA ● Despite increases in awareness over the past decade, only 54 percent of women recognize that heart disease is the number 1 killer. ● 90 percent of women have one or more risk factors for developing heart disease. ● Since 1984, more women than men have died each year from heart disease and the gap between men and women's survival continues to widen.