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Heart Disease Shock For Northern Ireland Women

Wednesday 21 April 2004

One in four women in Northern Ireland will die from heart disease, yet many still regard it as a man’s illness.

The death toll in recent years has been greater than all the cancers combined, according to the Northern Ireland Chest, Heart and Stroke Association. In some areas, the figure is as high as one in three.

One in four women in Northern Ireland will die from heart disease, yet many still regard it as a man’s illness.

The death toll in recent years has been greater than all the cancers combined, according to the Northern Ireland Chest, Heart and Stroke Association. In some areas, the figure is as high as one in three.

The NICHSA drew attention to the shocking statistics as it launched its Woman’s Heart campaign in association with Phoenix Natural Gas and its staff. The initiative was born out of a two-year partnership between company and charity. Phoenix staff have raised more than £21,000 for the Association, and its sales team will be distributing NICHSA health advice packs to 300 women each week. Without this commitment, one of the biggest health campaigns ever launched in Northern Ireland could not have happened.

Woman’s Heart is designed to save lives and to provide a specially trained nurse to offer advice and carry out testing for risk factors – particularly for women in less prosperous areas.

As well as the appalling death toll, the NICHSA points out that women’s symptoms of heart disease can often be different from those of men. Research carried out in the north east of England found that men with heart disease were twice as likely to be referred to hospital for further investigation as their female counterparts.

Other factors also affect the rate of heart disease in women. Men are giving up smoking at a greater rate, for example. More and more women, meanwhile, are taking on more stressful jobs. In addition, more women than men never take any exercise.

But perhaps the biggest difficulty is ignorance. Men know that they are at risk from heart disease. Women tend not to consider the possibility.

That is something the campaign is aiming to change. The Association’s Director of Health, Myrtle Neill, says: “The cancer charities have been very successful in alerting women to the risk of breast cancer, and they should be congratulated for it. But what we’re saying is that women are ignoring a disease that will claim the lives of one in four of us.

“The one ray of hope with heart disease is that we can reduce our risk by leading a healthy lifestyle. That means maintaining a healthy weight, eating five portions of fruit and vegetables each day, taking more exercise, stopping smoking, and reducing alcohol intake. We are very grateful to Phoenix Natural Gas for its support – such an ambitious campaign couldn’t have happened without it.”

Phoenix Gas Corporate Affairs Manager Sharon Hearty said: “We are delighted to be able to play a vital role in this lifesaving campaign. The NI Chest Heart and Stroke Association needed to reach women to inform them of the risks, while Phoenix sales advisors, through the promotion of natural gas home heating, were already visiting around 300 women each week in their homes. We are now delivering, directly to women, an information pack linked to the campaign. We’re passionate about helping to get this important message across to the community.”

The charity has the support of some high-profile women in its efforts. The award-winning singer/songwriter Kate Rusby has allowed the Association to use one of her songs in its promotional campaign.

The Woman’s Heart initiative is also supported by Patricia Lewsley MLA, Chairperson of the SDLP, who has herself undergone surgery for a hole in the heart. Patricia has also had other experience of heart problems in her family. Coronary disease killed all four of her grandparents, and her father, like her, underwent cardiac surgery.

<a href='http://www.womansheart.org.uk'>Woman's Heart Website</a>

<b>WOMEN’S HEART DISEASE: THE FACTS</b>

<ul><li>Heart disease is the single biggest killer of women in the UK.
<li>Belfast is second in the world league table for heart attacks in women between the ages of 35 and 64. It is beaten only by Glasgow.
<li>A woman is four times as likely to die from heart disease as from breast cancer (Office of National Statistics, 2002).
<li>One in four women take no exercise at all (national survey by Cancer Research UK, 2003). Three out of four fail to take the recommended amount.
<li>More than a quarter of women aged 60-79 (the highest risk age group) are clinically obese. Half have high blood pressure and half have a total cholesterol reading of 6.5 or more (the ideal reading is less than 5).
<li>Girls are now smoking more than boys.
<li>The Woman’s Heart campaign aims to raise £60,000 to save lives.</ul>

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