(ETX Daily Up) – In the event of cardiovascular disease, one in two women does not know which health professional to turn to, reveals a survey. However, knowledge is evolving. 79% of them know that more and more women are victims of a heart attack before the age of 50.
Stress, alcohol, menopause… The onset of cardiovascular diseases can be triggered by many factors, making them the leading cause of death in women. In a press release, the Cancer Foundation drives the point home. These cardiovascular diseases “kill eight times more people than breast cancer and, today, more than 11% of women who have had a heart attack are under 50”. However, women are not sufficiently informed about the risks of the disease. According to an Opinionway survey for the French Federation of Cardiology*, only a quarter of women place cardiovascular disease in first place.
Medical follow-up to be improved
According to the results of the survey carried out in February 2022, 68% of the women questioned declared that they take care of the health of their family members before their own. Finding time to consult a healthcare professional can be a problem for 37% of respondents. The health journey remains difficult, with one in two women not knowing which health professional to turn to.
If women seem to know better the symptoms due to cardiovascular disease, “the risk factors specific to women are little known”, specify the survey. “Only 65% of women identify the use of contraceptive hormone as a risk factor”, can we read in the report, which continues “a quarter of women think that the key periods of their hormonal life (puberty, pregnancy, peri -menopause, menopause) do not influence, or even reduce their risk”.
Women better alerted
These diseases affect increasingly young women. Over the past five years, there has been an increase in the hospitalization of women between the ages of 45 and 54 who have suffered a heart attack. A vital danger of which women seem aware, “79% of them know that there are more and more women under 50 who are victims of heart attacks”, specifies the Foundation.
Knowledge about cardiovascular health seems to be more and more known among women. While 83% of women know that certain risk factors for developing cardiovascular disease are specific to women, 54% know all the symptoms of a heart attack. Finally, 70% of them declare that they are more in tune with their bodies, by monitoring certain factors such as stress or even fatigue.
*OpinionWay study conducted online from February 17 to 21, 2022 with a sample of 520 women representative of the French population aged 18 and over. The sample was drawn up using the quota method with regard to the criteria of age, socio-professional category and region of residence.