Vanderbilt Heart promotes Wear Red Day tomorrow; lunch and learn on hypertension at noon

This year National Wear Red Day will be held on Feb. 2 and marks the 15^th anniversary of the observance created by the American Heart Association and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute locations/clinics will be decorated to promote Wear Red Day. Organizers hope that Vanderbilt University Medical Center employees will join in wearing red as well.

A Feb. 2 Lunch and Learn event will take place at noon in 202 Light Hall, and will feature Cheryl Laffer, MD, PhD, professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology, discusing new guidelines about hypertension. Those who wear red to the event will receive a heart-healthy lunch.

Since launching the awareness campaign, nearly 300 fewer women die from heart disease and stroke each day, and death in women has decreased by more than 30 percent over the past 10 years.

Despite the strides made in heart health awareness, 1 in 3 women die of heart disease and stroke, killing one woman every 80 seconds annually.

Other statistics include:

• An estimated 44 million women in the U.S. are affected by cardiovascular diseases.
• 90 percent of women have one or more risk factors for heart disease or stroke.
• Women have a higher lifetime risk of stroke than men.
• Hispanic women are likely to develop heart disease 10 years earlier than Caucasian women.
• Cardiovascular diseases kill more than 48,000 African-American women annually.
• 80 percent of heart disease and stroke events may be prevented by lifestyle changes and education.