Heart of a Woman: Perception of CVD risk among women of African descent

Background: Women of African descent are more likely to be under diagnosed or untreated for cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared to White women. Possessing one risk factor can significantly increase a person's chance of developing CVD. Although knowledge of heart disease has grown among women of African descent, it is unknown whether they perceive that having a risk factor increase their risk for CVD. Therefore we focused on increasing awareness of CVD risk factors to address risk perception. Methods: Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, a community-based organization, recruited female customers (n=338) from hair salons (n=16) in Brooklyn, NY as part of an intervention to raise awareness of CVD. Customers (n=155) were randomly selected from salons (n=8) to obtain self-reported data of risk factors (e.g. BMI and family history of CVD) at baseline. Results: 90% were less than 49 years of age, college graduates (69%); 54% were overweight; and 25% had a family history of CVD. The majority of the women already had general knowledge of CVD (90%), and ways to reduce CVD (98%). However, regarding perception of risk, nearly 25% of women who had BMI ≥25kg/m ² were not aware of their chances of CVD compared to 54% with normal BMI (p-value <.0001). The result were similar to those with family history of CVD (p-value <.0001). Conclusion: Women who are at risk and have knowledge of CVD may not perceive themselves to be susceptible to CVD. Increase awareness among women of African descent is needed to address perception of CVD.