While you may be aware that a one-size-fits-all approach won't work for reaching women with heart disease prevention information, a recent report underscores the need for these
messages to be more culturally and geographically focused.
A study by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health found striking differences in heart disease death rates among American women based on
race and geographic location.
Researchers found a seven-fold difference in the highest and lowest rates of mortality from coronary heart disease (CHD) among middle-aged women in Arkansas (125 per 100,000
black women) versus Colorado (17 deaths per 100,000 white women).
The study is based on mortality rates information derived from the International Classification of Diseases among women aged 45 to 54 in the U.S. in 1994, the most recent data
available.
For black women, mortality rates for CHD were highest in Arkansas, Louisiana (113/100,000) and Pennsylvania (108/100,000), and lowest in New Jersey (45/100,000) Maryland
(49/100,000) and Georgia (57/100,000). For white women, CHD mortality rates were highest in Louisiana (55/100,000), Mississippi (53/100,000), and Oklahoma (50/100,000) and lowest
in Minnesota (22/100,000), Washington (18/100,000) and Colorado.
(UPMC Health System, Kathryn Duda, 412/624-2607)