U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin opened up a panel on women's cardiovascular health in New York City on Wednesday, an event hosted by the American College of Cardiology to raise awareness about reducing heart disease in women, conditions that can lead to heart attack or stroke.

"It's the leading cause of death for women, yet women remain unaware it's their killer," Benjamin told a room packed with guests who would later be attending the Heart Truth Red Dress Fashion Show, an annual event to support women's heart health, now in its 10th year.

Panelists rattled off staggering statistics: Heart disease currently affects 42 million American women, and 400 thousand women will die of the disease in the U.S. each year. According to ACC president Dr. William Zoghbi, that's five times as high as deaths from breast cancer.
In fact, many of the panelists drew parallels to the success of the national breast cancer awareness campaign as a model to strive for, as more clinicians, government agencies and private companies — including the Coca Cola Company — partner to raise awareness about preventing heart disease in women.

While polls have shown that since 2003 more women are aware of the issue, still only about 50 percent of women know that it's their number one killer.

Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, president of Brigham and Women's Health Care in Boston, said heart disease has always been looked at as a man's issue, but that is slowly changing. Most of the studies on the disease have been focused on men over the past 50 years, but more recent efforts, such as a landmark investigation into ischemic heart disease in women, now in its 18th year, are aimed at rectifying that situation.

Although health organizations and clinicians are still seeking out best practices, more and more cardiologists are embracing prevention efforts, and if not, being urged to do so.

"We don't need new medicines but alertness of one's risk factor," said Zoghbi. "Prevention trumps treatment."

For one, women are encouraged to get screening tests during regular doctors visits, which can detect risk factors at their earliest stages. But getting to the root cause of many risk factors — like obesity — remain challenges.

According to panelists, President Obama's health care reform law will work toward increasing prevention efforts for heart disease in women not only with no-cost preventative services for patients, but also through new models of care to propel doctors to make prevention a priority.

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