No. 1 killer of women? Most here don't know

Feb 2, 2007

No. 1 killer of women? Most here don't know

Majority can't name risk factors of heart diseases and stroke, survey on women finds

By Judith Tan

THE majority of women in Singapore are not aware of what the top cause of death is among women here.

They are not even able to name the important risk factors of women's No. 1 killer, heart diseases and stroke.

These were some of the findings of a recent telephone survey conducted among some 1,000 women aged 35 to 49 here.

The study was conducted randomly between June and August last year by the Singapore Heart Foundation.

While almost one in three of the women surveyed thought there was nothing they could do to prevent a heart attack, two in five thought they were at low risk of an attack for women their age.

It also found that the majority of the respondents were not even aware that men and women have different symptoms of a heart attack or that women's risk of heart disease increases after menopause.

Two in three deemed that chest pain is a warning sign associated with heart attack, while one in three from the 50 to 64 age group thought they were at low risk of heart attack for women their age.

More than half did not know that women are more likely to get heart disease after menopause.

Principal researcher Lew Yii Jen said that from the survey, a lower percentage of women consider heart disease and stroke as important health issues facing them, compared to cancer.

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