Cardiovascular Disease In Women Essay

Cardiovascular Disease in Women In the United States, the leading cause of death in women is cardiovascular disease (CVD). According to Wegner (2004), there is a statistic that is presented that states every minute of the day an American woman dies of CVD. There is 60 minutes in an hour, 1440 minutes in 24 hours, meaning that approximately 1440 women a day die of this disease. Why is that? This is due to the fact that women are unaware and not educated enough on the risks and the potential threat that cardiovascular disease has on them. A theoretical model as stated by Schroetter (2008), called the “Health Belief Model”, describes five major factors that are related to cardiovascular disease in women, which include: “perceived susceptibility,

These factors are essential in establishing how women distinguish cardiovascular disease in their daily lives. As Schroetter (2008) explains, perceived susceptibility is in regards to a woman evaluating her risk on getting cardiovascular disease, perceived severity is in regards to how a woman feels emotionally if she is at risk for getting cardiovascular disease and if there are any repercussions, perceived benefits is in regards to a women fighting against cardiovascular disease to reduce her risk, perceived barriers is in regards to a woman thinking about the obstacles she will face by weighing the pros and cons of cardiovascular disease, and perceived threats is a women’s conclusion that she is at risk for cardiovascular disease because of her past medical history, family history, lifestyle choices, and “demographics” (Schroetter, 2008). The likelihood of women taking preventative health action is unlikely because of the lack of education and prevention on cardiovascular disease. Poor lifestyle choices can increase the risk of CVD, such as a sedentary lifestyle or unhealthy eating. When women go day to day without implementing any sort of exercise activity and live desk-bound life, their body loses the ability to combat certain diseases, add unhealthy eating habits, and the statistic of developing