Appalachian women and heart health: current prevention strategies and future directions.

Background: Heart disease claims the lives of 25% of women in the United States. Only about half of women recognize it as the number one cause of adult female mortality, indicating a gap in the public's knowledge base. In West Virginia, women often face barriers such as social isolation, lack of healthy lifestyle options and fewer physician visits.

Methods: Literature review focused on successful efforts to remedy barriers in Appalachian women with strategies such as community outreach, group, and individual education.

Results: Primary care doctors can get involved by providing personalized information on heart health risk and utilizing appointments as opportunities for preventative heart health treatment.

Conclusions: Future initiatives should highlight the need for brief, accurate risk assessments and continued encouragement to decrease cardiac risk factors. An ongoing West Virginia Rural Scholars project is aimed at achieving those two aforementioned goals: increasing awareness and reducing risk factors for women's heart health.