MORRISTOWN, N.J., Jan. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Bayer Consumer Care today announced the launch of “Shades of Red”, a national public education campaign targeting women. The campaign, which is timed to precede American Heart Month (February), is designed to encourage women to work with their healthcare providers to assess and understand their personal risk of cardiovascular events -- or shade of red -- and take the necessary steps to stay healthy.
As part of the campaign, Bayer is distributing a set of educational materials specifically designed for women. The materials include a “Shades of Red” brochure that profiles real women, each with very real -- and very different -- levels of cardiovascular event risk. Women can use the brochure with their doctors to determine which risk category -- or shade of red -- they fall into. From low-risk pink to high-risk crimson, a woman’s personal risk level changes depending on many factors, such as her age, previous cardiovascular events, cholesterol and blood pressure levels, weight, diabetes, smoking habits, and her family history of heart disease.
The “Shades of Red” campaign is informed by research suggesting that many at-risk women may be underestimating their risk of cardiovascular events and may not be taking appropriate action. A recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive(R), on behalf of the American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM), found that 46% of American women aged 40 and older who are at increased risk of cardiovascular events -- and therefore are potential candidates for doctor-recommended aspirin therapy based on current American Heart Association guidelines -- are not utilizing aspirin therapy to reduce their risk of heart attack or stroke. Increased risk can be defined as 10% risk or greater over 10 years.
“Despite significant educational efforts in recent years to elevate Americans’ awareness of the risk factors for heart attack, recurrent stroke and other cardiovascular events, many women still think heart disease is just a man’s disease,” commented C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD, Medical Director and Endowed Chair, Women’s Health Program; and Preventive and Rehabilitative Cardiac Center, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; National Spokesperson for Women’s HeartAdvantage. “Although aspirin has been proven to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in men and women at risk, not enough moderate-to-high risk women are talking to their doctors about whether they should be taking it.”
While heart disease is the number one killer of American women(1), only 36% of the increased-risk women responding to the ACPM survey selected heart attack as the health condition they personally feared -- behind Alzheimer’s (39%) and stroke (39%) and equal to breast cancer (36%).
“The goal of ‘Shades of Red’ is to turn awareness into action,” stated Michaela Griggs, Director of Bayer Aspirin. “Bayer Aspirin is committed to educating all women about their shade of red, and to providing the necessary tools for every woman -- of every shade -- to take appropriate action, whether it’s simply maintaining her exercise routine, adjusting her diet, or speaking to her doctor about her level of risk and whether a daily aspirin regimen is appropriate.”
A Note on the Results
Survey research, regardless of how it is conducted or whom it surveys, must often be interpreted with caution when analyzing the results. The following caveats apply to this survey. First, many of the questions asked of both the consumer and healthcare professional samples were framed in such a way as to measure whether a certain activity has “ever” been done or discussed. Follow-up questions were not included to quantify the frequency with which these actions are taken. Secondly, the risk calculation used to identify consumers who are at increased risk for heart disease is based solely on information gathered as part of this survey and does not include information from any other sources such as patient medical records. Third, in some cases, questions were worded such that “heart attack” and “stroke” were combined into one item rather than being asked about separately (e.g., a response choice for one question was worded as “preventing heart attack or stroke”). Therefore, it is not possible to determine how respondents would answer for each cardiac event separately.
Survey Methodology
Harris Interactive(R) conducted the online survey Oct. 21-29, 2004 among a nationwide cross section of 1,299 U.S. adults aged 40+. The data were weighted to be representative of the total U.S. adult population on the basis of region, age within gender, education, household income, race/ethnicity, and propensity to be online.
Using a formula based in part on the Framingham Risk Calculator(2), which assesses a person’s risk for cardiovascular events based upon a series of risk factors, a profile of consumers at increased risk was developed. Risk factors included:
* Age and gender * Previous cardiovascular events, including ischemic stroke, heart attack, and angina * Presence of disease states such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure or diabetes * Obesity * Family history of heart disease and/or stroke * Current smoker
The following groups were classified as part of the increased risk profile:
* Regardless of age or gender, must have been diagnosed with any one or more of the following conditions: heart attack, ischemic stroke, diabetes, and angina; OR * Women ages 50-59 with four or more risk factors, OR * Women ages 60-69 with three or more risk factors, OR * Women ages 70 and over with two or more risk factors
In theory, with samples of this size, one could say with 95 percent certainty that the results for the overall sample have a sampling error of +/- 3 percentage points. Sampling errors for the sub-samples of women is +/- 4 percentage points and of increased-risk women is +/- 7 percentage points. This online sample was not a probability sample.
About Bayer Consumer Care
Bayer is a proud supporter of the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women campaign, which aims to educate women about cardiovascular disease risk factors and to raise awareness of disease prevalence in women. Bayer also partners with numerous organizations and programs to help raise women’s awareness of cardiovascular disease and to promote heart-healthy behavior through the prevention, detection and treatment of risk factors. Bayer makes a range of products designed to meet the needs of female patients, including Bayer Women’s Aspirin Plus Calcium(R), the only aspirin regimen product designed especially for women.
Bayer Consumer Care, a division of Bayer HealthCare, is headquartered in Morristown, N.J. Bayer Consumer Care is among the largest marketers of over- the-counter medications and nutritional supplements in the world. Some of the most trusted and recognizable brands in the world today come from the Bayer portfolio of products. These include Bayer Aspirin, Aleve, Phillips’ Milk of Magnesia, Midol, Alka-Seltzer, Alka-Seltzer Plus, Bactine, RID, and One-A-Day and Flintstones vitamins. Bayer HealthCare combines the global activities of the Animal Health, Biological Products, Consumer Care, Diagnostics and Pharmaceuticals divisions. A subgroup of Bayer AG, Bayer HealthCare had sales of approximately 8.9 billion Euro in 2003 and employs about 34,600 people worldwide.
About Harris Interactive(R)
Harris Interactive Inc. (http://www.harrisinteractive.com/), the 15th largest and fastest-growing market research firm in the world, is a Rochester, N.Y.-based global research company that blends premier strategic consulting with innovative and efficient methods of investigation, analysis and application. Known for The Harris Poll(R) and for pioneering Internet-based research methods, Harris Interactive conducts proprietary and public research to help its clients achieve clear, material and enduring results.
Harris Interactive combines its intellectual capital, databases and technology to advance market leadership through U.S. offices and wholly owned subsidiaries: London-based HI Europe (http://www.hieurope.com/), Paris-based Novatris (http://www.novatris.com/), Tokyo-based Harris Interactive Japan, through newly acquired WirthlinWorldwide (http://www.wirthlinworldwide.com/), a Reston, Virginia-based research and consultancy firm ranked 25th largest in the world, and through an independent global network of affiliate market research companies. EOE M/F/D/V
(1) American Heart Association. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics - 2004 Update. Dallas, Tex.: American Heart Association; 2003. (2) Framingham Risk Calculator, http://hin.nhlbi.nih.gov/atpiii/calculator.asp?usertype=prof.
Bayer Consumer Care
CONTACT: Anne Coiley of Bayer Consumer Care, +1-973-254-4607; or Lauren Mazzella +1- 212-631-0505, ext. 18, or +1-917-974-7734