A discussion on “Women and Heart Disease” will be held tonight at the DeKalb County Farm Bureau.

Linda Arnold, staff nurse in the specialty care unit at Kishwaukee Hospital, will be conducting the discussion which begins at 7 p.m. in the DeKalb County Farm Bureau Building, 315 N. Sixth St.

Arnold will discuss the impact of cardiovascular disease, cardiac risk factors, the benefits of estrogen replacement and the impact of lifestyle and diet.

She will also use materials and a video provided by the American Heart Association as part of her discussion. Following her presentation there will be an opportunity for questions and more discussion.

The program is being sponsored by the DeKalb Farm Bureau Women’s Committee.

Mariam Wassman, director of information at the DeKalb County Farm Bureau, said the Farm Bureau sponsors discussions and programs on “a variety of topics and issues of interest to farm bureau members.”

She said most programs are open to farm bureau members only. However, she said there will be another speaker in April speaking on women and osteoporosis open to the general public.

Arnold’s discussion stems from statistics claiming heart disease is the number one killer of American women. About 247,000 of the more than 520,000 heart attack deaths that occur each year are women.

One in nine women aged 45 to 64 has some form of cardiovascular disease and this ratio rises to one in three at age 65.

An estimated 6,000 women under age 55 die each year of heart attacks, and nearly one-third of them are under the age of 45.

Arnold is currently working on a master’s degree at the University of Illinois with an emphasis in critical care nursing. Her graduate research concentrates on women with coronary artery disease.