Black and Hispanic women are less likely than whites to recognize the warning signs of a heart attack and be aware that heart disease is the leading cause of death in women, new research shows.
The study, published in the in Journal of Women's Health, also found younger women are less likely to be informed of the risks – spotlighting what research said is persistent racial, ethnic and age-related disparities in awareness of heart disease risk in women that could put some at greater risk.
"Clearly, education that is targeted to racial/ethnic minority and younger women about heart disease risk is needed, as well as education of all women about the signs and symptoms of a heart attack," said Dr. Susan G. Kornstein, the journal’s editor, director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health in Richmond and president of the Academy of Women's Health.
The new findings are based on an analysis of two American Heart Association surveys led by Heidi Mochari-Greenberger and Dr. Lori Mosca, of New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center in New York, and Kerri Miller, of Harris Interactive.
They found black and Hispanic women are 66 percent less likely than white women to know heart disease is the leading cause of death in women. The findings also indicated women younger than 55 years of age are also less well-informed about heart disease risk.
Overall, many women are not aware of the most common signs of heart attack, which differ from those in men, researchers concluded.