Hopefully you’ll be seeing lots of red on Friday since it’s National Wear Red Day, an awareness event to bring attention to the facts related to cardiovascular disease being the number one killer of women.

The American Heart Association is actively promoting Go Red for Women through the website wwww.goredforwomen.org, and the National Heart and Lung Institute is involved in celebrating National Heart Month and The Heart Truth, a national awareness campaign for women about heart disease.

Here are some of the facts to share with the women in your life:

• Cardiovascular disease ranks first among all disease categories in hospital discharges for women.

• Cardiovascular disease, particularly coronary heart disease and stroke, remain the leading causes of death of women in America and most developed countries, with nearly 37 percent of all female deaths in the United States occurring from cardiocvascular disease.

• Cardiovascular disease is a particularly important problem among minority women. The death rate due to cardiovascular disease is higher in black women than in white women.

• One in 2.7 females who die, die of heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular disease compared with one in 30 who die of breast cancer.

• Coronary heart disease claims the lives of 213,572 females annually compared with 41,116 lives from breast cancer and 69,105 from lung cancer.

• Misperceptions still exist that cardiovascular disease is not a real problem for women.

Concerned? Talk with your physician or visit the Barrow County Health Department since risk factors for cardiovascular disease can be easily assessed and and hopefuly promptly addressed.