LatinaLista — When it comes to heart disease, Latinos are in a good position, not great, but good. In general, Latinos are 10 percent less likely to have coronary heart disease than non-Hispanic white adults and less likely to have high blood pressure, a contributing factor to heart disease, than non-Hispanic blacks.
Yet, heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women — 420,000 women die each year in the U.S. of cardiovascular disease. While it’s long been known how men experience heart attacks, the same can’t be said for women. It’s only been over the last several years that women have received the much needed information on how heart disease is different for women and what can be done to prevent it — yes, prevent it!
Unlike cancer, heart disease can be prevented. The only trouble is a lot of women don’t know how to do that or even recognize the symptoms if they should have heart disease.
For that reason, television host, Joy Behar and her daughter, have released the bilingual e-book Straight Talk: A Woman’s Guide to Heart Health.
The impetus for the book is the personal experience the Behar family has with heart disease. Joy and her daughter wanted to share what they practice in their own family — being advocates for one another’s heart health — with others.
“Because heart disease runs in our family, my mother and I have always looked out for each other’s health,” said Eve Behar. “This new guide can help women become empowered to prevent heart disease and take better care of themselves and their loved ones by talking to each other and starting conversations with their doctors.”
In addition to the facts about heart disease and how to recognize the symptoms, the e-book also shares the stories of women who have suffered from heart disease and didn’t even know they had it.
Sixty-four percent of women who died suddenly of heart disease had no previous symptoms; making early detection and correction of factors like high cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes critical.
The e-book is free to download on the I am ProHeart Facebook page or the I am ProHeart web site, which is sponsored by campaign partner Bayer aspirin.
