Troubling Stats Loom over National Women's Health Week

National Women's Health Week concludes today, Saturday, May 17. It kicked off last Sunday on Mother's Day. Recent news, however, gave us more reason for concern than celebration this week. Research published online Tuesday shows the risk of dying prematurely for those with less than a high school education is on the rise and white women are faring the worst in that category. White female high school dropouts have seen their mortality rate rise more than 3 percent a year between 1993 and 2001.

This data comes on the heels of a study released in April that says the death rate for women is rising in many parts of the nation, especially in rural and less affluent counties. In 180 U.S. counties, life expectancy for women dropped at least 1.3 years between 1983 and 1999. For men, declines of this magnitude took place in just 11 counties. Most of the changes took place in the Deep South, along the Mississippi River, in Appalachia, in the southern portion of the Midwest and in Texas.

Both of these trends are tied to chronic diseases related to smoking, high blood pressure, and obesity. They beg a basic question. What is women's health? For decades, women's health was considered synonymous with reproductive health. Aside from that issue, researchers thought the health of women and men was basically the same.

We now know that assumption was wrong, very wrong. Thanks to the inclusion of women in modern medical research - they were excluded from most major studies until the last 15 years - we have learned that health differences between the sexes are vast and affect almost every major area of health.

Here are some leading facts about women's health everyone should know. Heart disease is the leading killer of all American women. It kills more women than men every year. It strikes women on average 10 years later than men. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, but lung cancer has killed more women in each of the last 20 years. Unfortunately, these facts elude most of the public and some in health care professions.

In the spirit of National Women's Health Week, how should we respond to this situation? For starters, women should pay closer attention to cardiovascular health, lung diseases, obesity and how these conditions uniquely affect them. Engage your health care providers in a dialogue. For the symptoms you experience, the diseases you encounter and the treatments you consider, ask yourself, your doctors, nurses and pharmacists how you might be affected as a woman -- or a man, for that matter.

The conversation will challenge your care providers to account for the differences and your care will be more complete. It is part of being an advocate for your health and the essence of National Women's Health Week.

As a society, we need to do a better job of addressing health disparities that affect women, minorities, the poor and those in rural communities. We see the most troubling statistics in these communities.

We all need to think about how we organize our lives. We don't eat as well as we should. Our poor diet and our relative lack of exercise is often our downfall. It leads to diseases and chronic health conditions that could be delayed or prevented all together.

National Women's Health Week empowers women to get healthy by taking action. Hopefully the sobering news of declining life expectancy for many women is sufficient motivation. You can find simple steps for a longer, healthier and happier life from the Society for Women's Health Research and the official women's health week Web site: http://www.4woman.gov/whw/.