2019 Impact Update: Special Year-End Report

More research. More lives saved.

All thanks to you.

2019 Impact Update: Special Year-End Report

“Everything we do is aimed at reducing the death rate and risk factors associated with heart conditions, stroke and vascular cognitive impairment of Canadians. Today, our progress is real – and none of it would be possible without you!”

Anne Simard Chief Mission and Research Officer Heart & Stroke

LOOKING FORWARD TO 2020: Thanks to your incredible support, $33 million has been invested in world-class, life-saving research this year, and another $42 million in health promotion and community programs. These investments and others over the last six decades have helped lower the mortality rate from heart disease and stroke by more than 75% in Canada. But we are far from done.

In 2020 and beyond, your donations will continue to help achieve goals and make advancements in the following four key areas:

Funding medical breakthroughs: The Women’s Initiative is making positive changes in women’s heart and brain health, fuelling scientific discovery to create better outcomes for Canadian women. See page 4 to learn more about how we are working hard to close the research gap.

Promoting recovery: We empower and enhance the quality of life of more than 1.6 million Canadians living with heart disease, stroke, and vascular cognitive impairment by connecting them with caregiver resources, online support groups, and more.

Preventing disease: From getting kids active through

Saving lives: We are training more Canadians than ever

Jump Rope for Heart and advocating with the Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition, to successfully pushing for changes to the Canada Food Guide and being a key influencer in tobacco control, we’re making great strides.

in life-saving CPR and first aid; and, as an authority, are committed to establishing best practices, monitoring services, and improving the quality of stroke care from coast-to-coast.

The threat of heart disease and stroke remains urgent.

The good news is that together, we’re making change happen. Yet, despite all that we’ve accomplished, heart disease and stroke remain the number one cause of premature death in Canada. Thank you for being a part of an amazing community of collaborators - who are leading the fight against these devastating diseases.

With your help, we will continue to invest in life-saving research, fight for health, and save more loved ones.

A Two-Way Street: Diabetes and Heart Disease: “It’s a perfect storm in type 2 that increases the risk for heart disease.”

Funded by donors like you, Dr. Doreen Rabi’s research focuses on managing the factors that put people at risk of heart disease.

The problem:

The solution:

30% of Canadians are currently living with diabetes or prediabetes. Diabetes means there is too much sugar in your blood. Sugar sticks to things, including proteins inside your blood vessels. That in turn makes the blood vessels weak.

“People with diabetes tend to have more problems with high blood pressure and high cholesterol,” says Dr. Rabi. In fact, diabetes and heart disease share many risk factors: being overweight, a sedentary lifestyle, eating a poor diet. The impact is dramatic: people with diabetes are up to 3x more likely to die of heart disease.

Type 2 diabetes, the most common form, is a major risk factor of heart disease and stroke as it increases the risk of high blood pressure and narrowing of the arteries (atherosclerosis). And in rarer cases, heart disease can also trigger the onset of diabetes.

There’s also a gender difference: diabetes increases the risk of heart disease, including heart attack and heart failure more in women than men. Heart & Stroke researcher Dr. Doreen Rabi says heart disease in women can present differently: “They may not feel the symptoms of heart disease the way men feel them.” She adds: “There’s not enough discussion of the fact that there’s a very tight link between these two diseases.”

“We have very clear evidence that you can effectively put type 2 diabetes into remission,” says Dr. Rabi.

“Through lifestyle changes and medication, we know people can reduce their heart disease risk.”

To learn more about the connection, and how to manage your own risk factors, visit: www.HeartAndStroke.ca/Diabetes

New FREE Program!

Introducing Activate: a FREE 6-month wellness program that helps you eat better, move more, and manage your stress and blood pressure.

Get the support you need: • Online health platform with curated content and trackers • Support from a personal health coach and Loblaws® in-store Dietitian (available in certain locations only) • 2-month free membership and a free personal training session at the YMCA/YWCA • Earn PC Optimum points for healthy behavior

Learn more about Activate and book your appointment at: www.HeartAndStroke.ca/Activate

A heartbeat away from stroke 25% of all strokes after age 40 are caused by Afib.

“Women are aging into conditions such as atrial fibrillation [Afib] that disproportionately increase their risk of stroke and they fare much worse after Afib-related strokes.”

– Dr. Jodi Edwards Heart & Stroke researcher

Atrial fibrillation [Afib] is the most common arrhythmia, a condition affecting approximately 200,000 Canadians, that causes an irregular and fast heartbeat.

represented in Afib research trials for decades. Women with Afib make up only 40% of participants in research trials on newer and possibly safer medications.”

The risk of developing Afib increases with age and with other risk factors such as diabetes, high blood pressure and underlying heart disease. One of the main complications of atrial fibrillation is stroke. Up to one fourth of all strokes after the age of 40 are caused by Afib, and with treatment, most people live normal, active lives.

There are differences in how women with Afib are managed, compared to men.

For women, the story is different. Research shows that women with Afib are more likely to suffer a stroke, and when they do, the effects are more severe and deadly. Heart & Stroke researcher Dr. Jodi Edwards and her team at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute are investigating how to identify women who are at high-risk of Afib-related stroke at an earlier age, to improve diagnosis and ensure they receive the best possible therapies to reduce the risk.

According to Dr. Edwards, “Despite these issues facing women with Afib and stroke, women have been under-

Prevention Corner:

Flu season is coming: How you can protect your health this winter.

Heart & Stroke researchers have been studying the impact of influenza on people living with heart disease and stroke. If you have cardiovascular disease, or even risk factors for heart disease and stroke, the flu can put your health further at risk, increasing your chances of having a heart attack or stroke.

Blood thinners are often prescribed for people with Afib as they greatly reduce stroke risk. And even though women with Afib are at a higher risk of stroke, they are often prescribed lower, and potentially less effective, doses of blood thinner medication compared to men. Female Afib patients are also less likely to undergo procedures to treat Afib.

Thanks to your generous gifts, Dr. Edwards’ team is hard at work finding ways to better manage the risks, helping ensure access to preventative care and treatment – and saving more lives.

For example: one Canadian study found that people were six times more likely to have a heart attack while they had the flu.

Even if you have no risk factors for cardiovascular conditions your body’s inflammation levels and blood vessels can be impacted by a case of the flu — increasing your risk of heart attack and stroke.

Luckily, the flu shot is a very effective way to reduce strain on the cardiovascular system. To learn more about the research, the vaccine and how it can protect you, talk to your doctor or pharmacist and visit www.HeartAndStroke.ca/FluShots

Thanks to you, gender equitable research starts here: We need to close the research gap.

Women are under-researched, under-diagnosed and over-dying: it’s time to transform women’s heart and brain health. With your support, we are taking aim at sex and gender blinders that have caused too many women’s lives to be cut short. Our goal is to ensure women are equitably represented in research so that we can understand how women’s hearts and brains are different.

Doubling the dollars we invest in research for women.

Ensuring women are equitably represented in the research we fund.

Funding a community of scientists to improve expertise in women’s heart and brain health.

Expanding knowledge about women at higher risk of heart disease and stroke.

Since launching the Women’s Heart and Brain Health initiative in 2016, Heart & Stroke has funded 15 researchers from 11 institutions in five provinces. These are in addition to the total 750 Heart & Stroke funded researchers in medical institutes, universities, hospitals and communities across Canada that you helped support this year!

Get involved at www.HeartAndStroke.ca/Women

Perfect for fall weather!

New healthy comfort food recipe collections Sometimes salads aren’t enough to satisfy a cold-weather craving. If comfort food is what you’re after, a few smart swaps are all you need to enjoy your favourite, hearty meal and still keep it nutritious. Start with these dietitianapproved, special fall “Harvest Bounty” recipes to keep your loved ones’ bellies warm and full!

Visit: www.HeartAndStroke.ca/HarvestBounty

3 EASY, SECURE WAYS TO MAKE YOUR SPECIAL YEAR-END GIFT TODAY Send in your enclosed reply card

Visit www.HeartAndStroke.ca/Impact

Call 1-877-882-2582

Will your legacy be a future free from heart disease and stroke?

Your monthly gift will provide the steady stream of funding needed to keep vital research moving forward year-round. Please call 1-877-882-2582 or visit www.BreakThroughFund.ca

For your complimentary copy of “A Guide To Preparing Your Will,” call Mary Goodfellow at 1-800-205-4438 or visit www.HeartAndStroke.ca/Legacy

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