Fashion Pushes Women's Heart Risks into Limelight

Fashion Pushes Women's Heart Risks into Limelight



In the U. S., where heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, celebrities strut a fashion runway to rouse sluggish public awareness. "The most amazing thing is that 80 percent to 90 percent of heart disease is preventable," says Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, a cardiologist.


TV chef Carla Hall walks the runway at the Go Red for Women Red Dress Collection 2015, presented by Macy's during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Lincoln Center, New York


NEW YORK (WOMENSENEWS)-- The big killer stalking U.S. women is something too few are even worried about: heart disease. That's the message from Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, a New York cardiologist and a national spokesperson for the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women campaign. She spoke with Women's eNews last week ahead of the 2015 Red Dress Collection show, produced by the Go Red for Women campaign. The show played to a packed house at Lincoln Center on the first night here of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, which ends Feb. 19.

The point of the fashion show is to gear up awareness of women's heart disease so it's more in line with breast cancer, said Steinbaum, director of Women's Heart Health at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York and author of "Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum's Heart Book: Every Woman's Guide to a Heart-Healthy Life."


3 Surmountable Obstacles

In the United States, where an estimated 43 million women are affected by heart disease, Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum identifies three big obstacles to women's heart health:


Women not understanding that this is their leading health risk. "When we talk to women, their greatest fear is breast cancer. They also need to get screened for heart disease," says Steinbaum.

Doctors not being sufficiently aware of women's susceptibility to heart disease. Steinbaum recommends more doctors focus on the 2011 guidelines from the AHA to prevent heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular disease in women. It's a problem, she says, when a woman's not thinking about heart disease and neither is her doctor.

Insufficient research on how women are affected by drugs and devices to treat cardiovascular disease. "Women are participants and subjects in heart research only about 25 percent of the time," says Steinbaum.

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http://womensenews.org/story/medicine/150217/fashion-pushes-womens-heart-risks-limelight