Young Women's Perceptions of Heart Disease Risk

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Laura Vaccarino, Emory University; Holly Gooding, Emory University; Courtney A Brown, Boston Children’s Hospital; Anna C Revette, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Jingyi Liu, Stanford Healthcare; Sierra Patterson, Emory University; Catherine Stamoulis, Boston Children’s Hospital; Sarah D de Ferranti, Boston Children’s Hospital
• Language: English
• Date: 2020-11-01
• Publisher: ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2020 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. All rights reserved.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.05.010
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT HEALTH
• Volume: 67
• Issue: 5
• Start Page: 708
• End Page: 713
• Grant/Funding Information: This project was funded by a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) K23 grant awarded to Dr. Holly Gooding (K23 HL122361).
• Keywords: BARRIERS; Science & Technology; Public, Environmental & Occupational Health; Young adult; Psychology, Developmental; Social Sciences; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Women's Health; AWARENESS; Psychology; Heart disease; Adolescent; Pediatrics; KNOWLEDGE

Abstract

Purpose: Heart disease is the number one cause of death in women. Little is known about how adolescent and young adult women perceive their risk of heart disease. Methods: We conducted eight online, semistructured focus groups with 35 young women aged 15–24 years recruited from two primary care practices in Boston, MA. Focus group discussion topics built upon data from a larger sample of women who completed the American Heart Association Women's Health Study survey. Topics included health concerns salient to young women, perceived susceptibility to heart disease, and barriers to heart-healthy behaviors. We used qualitative coding and thematic analyses to synthesize data. Results: Participants were surprised to learn that heart disease is the leading cause of death in women. Young women discussed age (“I feel like those are things I associate with older people like 40”), gender (“I usually hear more about men suffering from heart problems than women”), and social norms (“we're so pressured just to grow up and [be] more focused on pregnancies or depression or our weight”) as reasons for their low perceived risk for heart disease. Participants noted several barriers to adopting heart-healthy behaviors including stress, lack of time, and low perceived risk. “We just don't have time to worry about hearts. Especially if our hearts aren't bothering us to begin with and we can't see it.” Conclusions: Perceptions of age, gender, and social norms contribute to low heart disease awareness among young women, which in turn may limit heart-healthy behaviors.