Despite public awareness campaigns, approximately half of all American women still don't know that heart disease is the leading causes of death in women, new examine finds.

Even more concerning, only slightly more than half of women would call for emergency help if they were having heart attack symptoms, according to the newest survey for the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women public awareness campaign.

"We've made a lot of progress since 1997 when the Go Red campaign first began, but we unmoving have a long way to go," said lead researcher Dr. Lori Mosca, director of protective cardiology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City.

In 1997, when the survey was 1st conducted, just 30 percent of women realized that heart infection was the leading cause of death in women. In 2009, that number was 54 percent. However, that number is down somewhat from 2006 when 57 percent of women said that heart disease was the largest threat to their health.

Young women were more likely to consider that breast cancer was their biggest potential health threat. 34 percent of women between the ages of 25 and 34 thought breast cancer was extra of a threat than heart disease, compared to 22 percent of women over 65 who felt that way.

Women are taking significant preventive steps such as seeing their doctors and having their blood pressure checked. However, many women are relying on unproven strategies to avoid heart disease, as well. For example, 82 percent said they believed that fish oil would help them avoid heart disease, and 29 percent said aromatherapy could be supportive, according to the survey.

Other important findings from the fresh survey include:

• Eighty-five percent of women said they had seen, heard or read about heart illness during the past year.
• Only 53 percent of women said they would call 911 if they were having heart attack symptoms.
• Just over half of women said the biggest barrier to taking preventive steps against heart disease were family and care-taking responsibilities.