Tomorrow is National Wear Red Day!

It's all about heart disease for the month of February and to commemorate the occassion the American Heart Association has designated tomorrow as "National Wear Red Day!"

As most of you know, I LOVE "Go Red" day and all its' marketing glitz that targets women (never mind that more men die of heart disease than women). It's not easy to find a politically-correct cause to piggy-back upon to sell more soups, Seiko watches and candles.

But I'm still behind the effort. Really I am. And so, once again in support of this important event, I'll be wearing red...

Rock on!

-Wes

February: Heart Month or Marketing Month?

Heart disease and February. What relationship could be more cozy?

From the scary risks of shoveling snow (yep, you could DIE, so be sure to lift a little at a time!), Mercedes-sponsored red dress parades and government-sponsored National Wear Red Day®, to tips for identifying heart attacks in women (men, you need a different month I guess), February has all the important stories to improve your "awareness."

Such a polite term, "awareness."

But I wonder, now that the internet is upon us and people are seeing their insurance rates and co-pays skyrocket if maybe we're shooting ourselves in the foot with all this heart month marketing hype. People are sick and tired of testing "just to be sure." It's starting to directly cost them a fortune, and people are pissed at having to pay a fortune for health care, let alone heart care.

I know, I know, I should be at the forefront of working with patients to stomp out heart disease. And goodness, people DO need to be attuned to diet, exercise, and weight loss. But the reality is, if we're giving you the ten latest tips on how to detect a heart attack, we're probably a bit too late.

That's the problem with all these press releases: while there's a need to raise "awareness" of heart health, there's also a very real need for people to take us, heart disease professionals, seriously to help cut costs in health care here. The last thing our health care system needs is more frivolous testing. Yet this is exactly what all this marketing does for our health care system: and it helps those with the largest PR budgets most of all.

Of course, there are researchers who depend on a portion of the funds raised to continue their work. After all, research is ridiculously expensive. There really is a need to raise funds for these scientists if we're going to continue our tradition of creative innovations in cardiovascular health care.

Maybe that should be the story line.

Maybe it would be nice to highlight these researchers' work and what that work hopes to bring to people rather than splashing a big feel-good red dress parade all over the media. Maybe we could focus on real life stories and less on the hyperbole. Maybe we could focus on the challenges, rather than the accolades and perfection.

Maybe then we'd have people take us seriously.

-Wes

Happy Heart Month!

Yes, folks, February is heart month - you know, Valentine's Day and all. (I love it when a marketing plan comes together!)

No doubt you'll be hearing plenty about the American Heart Association's "Go Red for Women" campaign that kicks off Friday, February 5th, but don't forget, just like last year: Go Red's still for men, too.

So guys, make sure you wear your red boxer shorts every day this month and get out there and purchase stuff, okay?

-Wes

Gored?

Heh.

-Wes

Go Red for Men, Too

After literally hundreds of politically-correct publications and press releases regarding the Go Red for Women campaign sponsored, in part, by Merck, Macy's, Jiffy Lube, Campbell's Soup, Blue Diamond Almonds, Cutco, Clairol Professional, e-GLAM, Flooring America, Fresh Express / Chiquita, Geoffrey Beene, Hamilton Beach, Jafra, Ocean Spray, Prego Heart Smart, Rite Aide, Starkist, Supervalu, Swanson Premium Chuck Chicken, Swarovski, V8 Beverages, Yankee Candle, wireless carrriers AT&T, Nextel, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular and Verizon Wireless (they help you donate from your cell phone - just don't forget to text "STOP" to unsubscribe after you donate!), and oh yeah, the American Heart Association (whew!), I'd like to take a moment and be politically incorrect and say:

"Go Red for Men, Too!"

Here's some stats from the CDC on heart disease in men, lest the guys out there feel left out tomorrow:

• In 2005, 322,841 men died from heart disease, the leading cause of death for men in the United States.


• The age-adjusted death rate for heart disease in men was 260 per 100,000 population in 2005.


• About 9.4% of all white men, 7.1% of black men, and 5.6% of Mexican American men live with coronary heart disease.


• The average age of a first heart attack for men is 66 years.


• Almost half of men who have a heart attack under age 65 die within 8 years.


• Results from the Framingham Heart Study suggest that men have a 49% lifetime risk of developing coronary heart disease after the age of 40.


• Between 70% and 89% of sudden cardiac events occur in men.


• Major risk factors for heart disease include high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, tobacco use, diabetes, physical inactivity, and poor nutrition.


• In a large study of blood pressure treatment and control, an average reduction of 12 to 13 mm Hg in systolic blood pressure over 4 years of follow-up was associated with a 21% reduction in coronary heart disease, 37% reduction in stroke, and 13% reduction in all-cause mortality rates.


• Studies suggest that a 10% decrease in total cholesterol levels may reduce the development of coronary heart disease by as much as 30%.

Although my feelings about the commercial nature of the Go Red for Women Campaign haven't changed much, as I read over these older statistics for heart disease, I sometimes wonder if guys should wear black tomorrow instead.

Nah. That would be too depressing.

Red, baby, red.

-Wes

Women's Heart Health: The Perils of Nonconformity

According to the American Heart Association, Minneapolis, MN, home of all three of the major medical device manufacturers (Medtronic, Boston Scientific, and St. Jude Medical) was the most "heart friendly" city in their recently-released ranking of the most Heart Friendly Cities for Women.*

Nashville, TN was heralded as the worst city. (St. Louis, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Columbus, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Cleveland and Indianapolis round out the loser list.)

Wow.

Now cities have rankings compiled by donation amounts to the American Heart Association! Go Red!

So come on now, Nashville and other bastions of womanly insensitivity. Stop being so policitally incorrect! Get your act straight, for goodness sake! Take it from us guys. Conform.

Or else you're going to keep getting, er, well, um, publically bitch-slapped by the American Heart Association.

-Wes

* Please note Minnesota's obesity ranking.

Go Red?

Tomorrow, I'll be wearing a red sweater to support the Go Red for Women campaign, sponsored by the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health, but I do so with mixed emotion. While I support the concept of raising awareness of women's heart health, I get nauseated at the grotesque sums of money this campaign earns from corporate interests, especially when significant potential conflicts of interest arise in sponsorship. It's not to say that the movement's "near-term goal is nothing less than a 25% reduction in coronary heart disease and stroke risk by the year 2010" isn't noble. Certainly the new broader definition of myocardial infarction revealed this year will go a long way toward achieving that goal. In fact, given that new expanded definition, they can probably already proclaim victory in achieving their goal since heart attacks will be diagnosed more frequently next year compared to last year.

Also, zillions of nice "events" are planned for this day - each with tons of sponsors' paraphernalia - all sprinkled about the audience to raise awareness of heart disease, tune-ups, floor tile, and cutlery while corporations add to their marketing budgets. The conflicts that this bling brings to the event reminds me of the conflicts inherent to "free lunches" provided at Grand Rounds sponsored by drug companies.

Take for instance, Merck. They're one of the "Proud National Sponsors" of the Go Red for Women campaign.

But they're also interested in the controvertial promotion of Gardasil for women to prevent cervical cancer. Merck also sells Vioxx, Vytorin, and Zetia - several drugs without such great press lately in their quest to prevent heart disease.

Other corporate sponsors' motivations are less clear - like Jiffy Lube, Diet Coke, Campbell's Soup, Cutco, Brighton, Clairol Professional, Hamilton Beach, Flooring America, Starkist, Del Monte, Swanson's and RiteAid pharmacies. I mean, its so touchy feely and the women's purchasing power so important that corporations have jumped on this feel-good campaign like a tick on a bloodhound. Where exactly are their heart health motivations? In assuring sodium loading, cutlery, or toxic chemical exposures to women?

Or is this campaign really about funding research for the prevention of women's heart disease?

If so, can anyone point me to studies funded by this endeavor? Or does it just go to the general operating budget of the American Heart Association or NIMH for their big comfy corporate furniture, officer salaries, or office appointments? It's just not clear where all the money goes.

Maybe it goes for all those nice red dress pins or the Heart Checkup website? Seems like a heck of a lot of dough for that.

Yes, I'm jaded. I admit it. But I remember grocery store Green Stamps - that cute marketing invention of grocery store chains of the 1950's and 1960's that proported to help people save money if they just saved more stamps, yet actually made money for the sponsors because people never redeemed them. So I am skeptical of corporate marketing bonanzas like the Go Red Campaign that have yet to demonstrate tangible benefits to reducing women's heart disease while exacting considerable costs to our society.

So if you see me in red tomorrow, remember that I hope my red sweater raises awareness of the need for women to have a better appreciation of their heart health. I just hope it doesn't also advocate for the red budgets of families unable to afford healthcare and medications in America.


-Wes