On the occasion of World Heart Day, the project called "Women and Heart" was launched in Zagreb on Friday, to promote preventive check-ups for women and raise awareness of early detection and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

Cardiovascular diseases are the most frequent cause of death among women in Croatia and last year 12,673 women died of that disease or 3,300 more than men. The Women and the Heart project was organised by the Croatia Heart House Foundation, Croatian Cardiological Society and the City of Zagreb with the aim of motivating women for regular check-ups.

“Every 80 seconds one woman in the world dies of cardiovascular disease. This campaign is aimed at raising awareness among women so they can detect the symptoms of heart disease and begin with effective treatment as early as possible. The target group are women aged 35 to 60,” the head of the Zagreb City Health Office Ivana Portolan Pajic told a press conference.

Director of the Srcana polyclinic for the prevention and rehabilitation of cardiovascular diseases, Goran Krstacic announced that 250 women would be invited to the clinic for screening before the end of the year starting with women over the age of 50.

The women will be selected with the assistance of health clinics and they will be called in for a blood test. Women with higher values will then be referred for further cardiological tests.

Heart diseases in women most often occur with women over the age of 55 and fatalities of heart attack can be twice as frequent than in men, said Davor Milicic of the Croatia Heart House Foundation. The risk in women increases when their sexual hormones stop working and the risk gradually increases and becomes equal to that of men.

Although diabetes and smoking are a joint risk factor for both sexes, women with those risks have a greater probability of developing a heart disease than men.