Taking Women’s Health to Heart: Column

Here’s a fact that should make your blood pressure rise: Heart disease and stroke cost the United States almost a billion dollars a day.  A billion dollars.

That's more than the annual budget of the Small Business Administration; more than twice the annual funding for the Peace Corps.  In one month, heart disease and stroke cost this country more than the annual budget for New York City’s Department of Education.

And the toll is only growing.

By the year 2030, more than 4 in 10 Americans are projected to have cardiovascular disease (CVD), with total costs expected to triple to more than a trillion dollars.  It’s unconscionable that we are paying so much for a disease that is largely preventable — paying in productivity squandered, health care dollars spent, and most importantly, lives diminished or lost.

Women’s health is at the heart of the epidemic we face.  Cardiovascular disease is the top killer of women in the United States; it kills more U.S. women each year than all cancers combined, and has claimed more women’s lives than men’s for more than 20 years.  Yet, 45% of women are unaware that it’s their number one threat.  We need awareness, education and advocacy to turn these numbers around.

That’s why I’ve joined Barbra Streisand in co-founding the Women’s Heart Alliance.  We want to dramatically reduce the number of women suffering and dying from cardiovascular disease.  I’ve always believed that when people really put their minds to something, progress doesn’t just get more likely; it’s guaranteed.  And, speaking as a business owner, my interest is always:  What do we need to do to get the best return?

In this case, the answer is that we need investment at multiple points simultaneously.  There is no silver bullet for CVD; no vaccine or miracle cure.  Instead, we need to mobilize actors at every level of society — from federal funders to health care providers, scientific researchers, community and business leaders and individuals themselves — to make women’s heart health a priority, and to stop this disease before it starts.

We need to invest in programs that educate women about their risk, including risk factors that are specific to or more significant in women, such as migraines, complications in pregnancy, early menopause and mental stress.  And we need to ensure that women — and health care providers — know that heart attacks in women may appear as back pain, nausea or extreme fatigue, instead of classic pain in the chest.

We need to invest in preventive efforts that focus on health, not illness.  Controlling risk factors such as smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and physical inactivity can delay the onset of CVD, or prevent it altogether.  The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services just announced that roughly 137 million people, including 55 million women, now have insurance that guarantees access to free preventive services.  Let’s make sure that women know about and take advantage of these services, and that doctors and patients alike make heart health a part of every consultation.

But it isn’t enough just to educate women about preventive measures; we must also invest in helping women to make and stick with difficult lifestyle changes.  One example is the Center for Disease Control’s WISEWOMAN program, which offers chronic disease risk-factor screening and support to low-income women.  Through WISEWOMAN, women can get involved in programs such as healthy cooking classes, walking clubs and classes to help quit smoking. The benefits extend not just to heart health, but to diabetes and lung cancer, too.  WISEWOMAN’s total funding last year was $17.3 million. Couldn’t scaling programs like this one up help rein in the costs of CVD?

We need to invest more in women’s heart health research, recognizing that women’s hearts are different from men's, and that heart disease affects women differently.  Similarly, we must take gender differences into account when designing diagnostic tools and medical devices, so that the screening and treatment women receive is appropriate to their bodies.

Finally, we need to invest in environments conducive to healthy lifestyles.  Every neighborhood needs safe places to walk, exercise and play; stores that sell affordable, nutritious, fresh food; and access to health education, screening, treatment and follow-up care.

Yes, investment means spending.  But our country is already paying a devastating price for heart disease.  To me, the benefits of putting more into prevention far outweigh the costs.

CVD kills a woman almost every minute, and nearly 800,000 Americans each year.

It’s time to invest in a healthier future for women, and for us all.

Ronald O. Perelman is chairman and chief executive officer of MacAndrews & Forbes Incorporated and co-founder of the Women’s Heart Alliance.

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