Women and Cardiovascular Disease: WISCONSIN. Ann Wicklund, Wisconsin
Survivor. Ann Wicklund of Wausau, Wisconsin, worked in a high stress job.
FACTS Women and Cardiovascular Disease: WISCONSIN
Heart disease and stroke account for 29.2% of all female deaths in Wisconsin.
On average, about 18 women die from heart disease and stroke in Wisconsin each day.
Heart Disease Rates, All Women, Ages 35+, 2000-2006 Age-adjusted Average (Annual) Deaths
State Rate Nation Rate
316 351
Heart disease alone is the leading cause of death in Wisconsin, accounting for 5,266 female deaths in 2009.
Stroke is the No. 3 cause of death for females in Wisconsin, accounting for 1,480 female deaths in 2009.
Nearly 55.5% of women in Wisconsin are obese and overweight.
In Wisconsin, 17.4% of women smoke cigarettes.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mortality data based on WISQARS Leading Cause of Death Reports, 2009; state maps from the Division of Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention; risk factor data from the BRFSS, 2010. * Overweight is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 25.0-29.9 kg/m2 and obese is defined as having a BMI of 30.0 kg/m2 or greater.
Ann Wicklund, Wisconsin Survivor Ann Wicklund of Wausau, Wisconsin, worked in a high stress job. One afternoon, while having a conversation with a colleague, pain shot threw Ann’s chest. Within seconds of the terrible pain, Ann felt as though she was going to pass out. Ann’s colleague brushed it off. Ann’s sister drove her to the hospital, where doctors diagnosed a heart attack. The doctors told Ann that her heart attack was the result of a coronary artery spasm. This is a temporary, sudden narrowing of one of the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart. By slowing or stopping blood flow through the artery, the heart is starved of oxygen-rich blood. Ann’s father had died in his 60s with heart disease. Before her heart attack, Ann thought this could never happen to her. Not a day goes by when Ann does not think about her heart attack. She lives a healthy lifestyle, is physically active, eats well, and engages in public awareness, advocating for women’s heart health. Ann is an active member of the You’re The Cure Network and has traveled to Washington, D.C. to participate in the You’re The Cure on the Hill. She attended numerous indistrict legislative and congressional meetings. Ann has served on the Wisconsin Advocacy Advisory Committee since 2008. And Ann regularly participates in the Start! Heart Walk in Wausau. Ann’s experience shows why the American Heart Association and its volunteers are advocating for more research, education and screening to help prevent and cure heart disease and stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases, the number one killer of women in Wisconsin and the United States.
