A lack of motivation, stress and a concern that health checks are too expensive are preventing women from protecting their heart health, new data shows.
Additionally, the Irish Heart Foundation research found that creating barriers to living a healthy lifestyle includes the high cost of healthy foods and gym memberships.
The data reveal that just over half of women, or 51 per cent, say they know the symptoms of heart disease and stroke, while 67 per cent of women believe they know the symptoms of breast cancer.
Irish Heart Foundation director of health promotion Janis Morrissey explained that what they are asking women to do is “take stock of where they are at and understand what factors impact their heart health, even one small change, can make a huge difference”.
Ms Morrissey continued: “It seems for many, life and lack of time is getting in the way, but it’s not about a drastic overhaul of lifestyle, just to ask themselves questions such as, ‘am I stressed? Am I active? How is my diet? Do I smoke? When did I last have my blood pressure checked?’”
The study shows only 13 per cent of women correctly think they are more likely to be diagnosed with heart disease and stroke than breast cancer, at 66 per cent, despite heart disease and stroke killing six times as many women as breast cancer.
The foundation highlighted that it is also concerned about the reasons women gave for not prioritising their heart health, with 25 per cent of women quoting worries about the cost of health checks as a key reason.
Nearly one in four said they did not feel motivated to look after their heart health, 21 per cent said gym memberships were too expensive, and 18 per cent identified the high cost of healthy foods. When combined, stress/anxiety and lack of time were factors for 26 per cent of women.
“Time, or lack of it, has consistently come up as a barrier, as have stress and cost of living concerns,” said Ms Morrissey.
“This appears to be fuelling a general lack of motivation. It could be a case that women feel they are juggling too much in their daily lives. Also, there remains a sizeable gap between the perceived dangers of breast cancer versus heart disease, which unfortunately is still seen as a male disease, despite all the evidence.”
She reiterated that what the foundation would ask women to do as a first step is “simply start the conversation with friends, loved ones, partners, to try to make small lifestyle changes and increase their knowledge of symptoms, which can save their lives”.
The heart organisation has started the Her Heart Matters campaign to provide practical information and supportive tools to help women look after their heart health.
Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said she believes women continue to experience “poorer cardiovascular health outcomes than men” and is committed to changing that by helping to improve awareness of the symptoms of heart disease and stroke.
Slightly more than 1,000 women aged 16 and over nationwide participated in the survey, which was conducted between July 29th and August 5th.
The Ipsos B&A research was supported by the Department of Health Women’s Health Fund and the Health Service Executive.