Ask Heart Health

Heart disease is a leading cause of illness and death in women, but women’s knowledge and risk perception gaps contribute to suboptimal screening and prevention.

Heart disease risk factors include:

• lifestyle factors
• certain health conditions including those specific to females
• age
• a family history of heart disease and
• ethnicity

The midlife and menopause transition, a period of increased heart disease risk, offers an opportunity for prevention.

Our previous interventions for improving heart health and preventing weight gain in younger women were effective, but midlife women have been neglected.

This project aims to explore midlife women’s needs and barriers for heart health and, through partnership with women, co-design resources to enhance heart disease screening and promote healthy lifestyles for women during midlife and beyond.

This project, funded by the Women’s Health Research, Translation and Impact Network (WHRTN), brings together multidisciplinary researchers and consumers to oversee this project. Co- lead investigators are MCHRI menopause research lead, A/ Prof Amanda Vincent, and consumer lead, Ainslie Cahill.

The current phase of the project is finding out what women know about heart disease, what helps or prevents them from engaging in heart disease prevention activities and what they would like to have included in a heart health resource. We will provide updates of our progress so keep tuning in.