Springfield,
Illinois – Illinois State Senator Martin A. Sandoval (D-Chicago) spoke at a press conference yesterday in
Springfield promoting women’s heart health. “Go Red for Women” Day provides an opportunity to give women an urgent wake-up call about the risks of heart disease.
“A recent study by the American Heart Association found that specifically minority women were less informed about the symptoms and causes of heart disease,” said Senator Sandoval, Co-Chairman of the Latino Caucus. “This is a disease that effects our mothers, sisters and wives and we need to make sure we provide more information about stopping heart disease before it effects our daughters.”
While heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the
United States, women account for approximately 53 percent of the total heart disease deaths according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In fact, almost one in three women will die of heart disease. The latest statistics show more than 13,000 women in
Illinois died from heart disease in 2006.