MANILA, Philippines?It?s about time that women start being concerned about their own health, as much as they are of the men in their lives.

A few weeks ago, the wife of a known heart patient with long-standing hypertension and diabetes, suddenly succumbed to a heart attack. All the time, she accompanied her husband for checkups and had been taking good care of him, making sure he did not miss any of his medications.

Looking hale and healthy in her late 50s, she (nor her husband) never realized that she too had risk factors for heart disease and was likewise at risk. Her husband has had two heart attacks and survived them. She had her first and didn?t make it.

Erroneous notion

Many women still have the erroneous notion that only men die from heart attacks and strokes. These cardiovascular complications, some think, are a rarity in women. This can be a fatal misconception.

Fact is, the incidence of cardiovascular disease may be significantly less in younger women but after the menopause, women are just as vulnerable as the men in their lives to serious, disabling or even fatal heart attacks and strokes. Nearly 50,000 women die each year from heart disease and stroke.

Dr. Esperanza Cabral, past president of the Philippine Heart Association and Philippine Society of Hypertension and currently social welfare secretary, used to chair the PHA Council for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Women. I remember in one forum she lamented the relative lack of consciousness of post-menopausal women concerning their own heart health. Not many realize that heart disease and stroke are now the leading causes of death and disability, not only in men, but also among women in the Philippines.

Cardiovascular diseases are our most important health burden today, affecting men and women equally, according to Dr. Cabral.

Generate more awareness

In the United States, the American Heart Association has organized ?Go Red For Women,? which is a nationwide movement to generate more awareness of the No. 1 killer of women (and of men) worldwide, including the Philippines. Annually they celebrate a ?National Wear Red Day? wherein all supporters of the movement, now reaching millions, wear anything red.

The movement hopes to inspire women not only to take good care of their men?s hearts, but to take charge of their own heart health as well.

It is woeful that we still lack focus on heart disease and stroke in women and our national capacity to respond to the cardiovascular epidemic in both men and women remains inadequate.

No one seems to notice that about 12 percent of adult women smoke and the numbers are rising. Women are starting to smoke at an earlier age, too. Tobacco manufacturers should state in their ads that tobacco use is more dangerous for women than for men, with up to three times higher risk of heart attacks for women who smoke. Women also have less time for exercise and you only have to watch people leisurely walking in the malls to conclude that we have an increasing trend in obesity in our country.

Other major risk factors

The other major risk factors that account for the significant increase in heart disease among Filipino women are high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol and lack of physical activity.

To stem the tide of increasing cardiovascular disease in women will require much more than a focus on individual responsibility of every woman at risk for cardiovascular disease. A concerted effort is imperative in neutralizing commercial interests which are largely responsible for unhealthy diets, tobacco smoking, physical inactivity and an inordinate preoccupation for esthetic or cosmetic concerns more than the more pressing heart and other health concerns.

It?s heartening to note that women heart health remains a priority program of the PHA; and more so this year since the current president is Dr. Belen Carisma, who keeps herself fit with regular ballroom dancing. She dances gracefully, and is truly a delight to watch on the dance floor. Tomorrow she leads the PHA in celebrating World Heart Day with all heart associations worldwide. There will be free cardiovascular lectures and risk-screening at the Arena in San Juan. Interested parties may text 0917-5771299.

So to the dear women in our lives, take heart in taking good care of your own hearts, and not only your men?s hearts.