Myths about heart disease among urban women revealed

 Dr. Jagdish Hiremath – Cardiologist, Pune.

• Setting the Context
• Survey Methodology
• Demographic profile of the sample
• Health consciousness among urban women in India 
• Proactively taking regular health check up
• Frequency of getting an Cholesterol test done
• Frequency of getting an ECG test done 
• Awareness about Heart Care & Diseases
• Awareness of stress test for detection of Coronary Artery Disease
• Knowledge on either Heart attack or Coronary artery disease
• Awareness on symptoms on heart disease
• Awareness of various treatments for heart disease
• Awareness of Interventional methods due to heart disease incidences in the family
• Awareness of key cause of Heart ailments
• Awareness on susceptibility to heart disease as compared to other disease
• General Awareness on Heart incidences at a global level , in year 2010
• Health Information Source
• Need for knowledge on proactive heart care
• Conclusions

Setting the Context

One of the recent studies by WHO indicated that, by the year 2010, India will have highest number of heart patients. It is expected that, as in the rest of the world, women will be as prone to this as men. This fact is, however, not well understood or known. To promote awareness of heart care among women, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has launched a nationwide running campaign in the US.

The My Fit Heart Program has teamed up with eminent cardiologists across the country to create a similar campaign in India. The Women and Heart Care Program has been initiated with a study among urban women to assess awareness levels on heart care.

A survey on awareness of urban women in India on heart care as well as overall attitude to health was conducted in Pune under the guidance of Dr. Jagdish Hiremath. The survey was conducted on a random sample of 234 women aged above 25. This report lists the survey findings and conclusions.

Survey Methodology

A structured questionnaire was used to elicit responses from 234 women above the age of 25. The survey was conducted over the phone and through email.

The questionnaire assessed the level of awareness about heart diseases, preventive measures for heart disease and knowledge of the available cures for heart ailments among urban Indian women. 

Questions were also posed to determine how proactive the respondents were with regard to keeping fit and adopting a healthy lifestyle.

Demographic profile of the sample

Demographic details:

• 50% of the sample are working women. 
  
•  57% of the sample is equal to or above age of 40 yrs.
•  57% of the sample are graduates.

Health consciousness among urban women in India  


Two aspects taken into consideration to analyze the health consciousness:

•  Initiative shown in adopting a routine of regular  
   exercise 
  
•  Proactively going for regular health check ups 


Routine of regular exercise

Observations:

• 68.5%of the women who do regular exercise belong to the above 40 yrs age group. 
  
• 73% of the women between the age of 25-40yrs who do not exercise regularly are working women.

Inference: 

• The research findings showed that middle aged and older women in the age group 40+ did regular exercises and had a walk routine which was not the case with women in the age group less than 40. This is owing to the hectic lifestyle where the woman has to manage the home and also her career.
• The second reason could be that the young women are falsely secure about their health and have taken it for granted.