Most women are
under the impression that cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a man’s health issue
and that the disease that is most likely to take the life of a woman is
cancer. This by far, extremely
incorrect. Cardiovascular disease is the
NUMBER ONE killer of women, claiming more female lives than men since 1984 (8.6
million women globally, each year).
Within the United States, more than 1 in 3 women have a form of CVD.
CVD (also known
as heart disease) is a class of diseases that involve the heart, blood vessels
(arteries, capillaries and veins) or both.
51% of all annual cardiovascular disease deaths are female, with the
following breakdown:
·
2.2 million Women die due to rheumatic heart
disease, hypertensive heart disease and inflammatory heart disease and
inflammatory heart disease.
·
3.4 million women die from ischemic heart
disease
·
3 million women die from stroke
Since 1984, women
have died more often than men from CVD although women tend to get CVD ten years
later than their male counterparts. With
that being sad, even though women are at heightened risk of death due to CVD, the
following holds true:
·
Younger women that suffer from CVD have a higher
rate of mortality than their male counterparts
·
Women are more likely to become disabled as a
result of suffering a stroke
·
Women are less like to be prescribed a
preventative regiment of aspirin therapy
·
Women are less likely to receive sophisticated
pacemaker models
·
Women are less likely to receive or be recommended
to receive life-saving cardiac surgery.
It is important
that women know the risk factors as well as the diseases that are increasing their
mortality. No longer can women hide
behind ignorance or the misconceptions provided by mass media. Take note of the following:
·
Age (some studies indicate that as estrogen
level decrease due to menopause cause women to be at a higher risk for
suffering from CVD, most notably, coronary microvascular disease (MVD))
o
MVD affects the heart’s tiny arteries (the
artery walls are damaged or diseased).
It is also known as cardiac syndrome X or nonobstructive coronary heart
disease (CHD).
§
CHD can cause angina, heart attacks, heart
failure, arrhythmias, arthrosclerosis and sudden cardiac arrest.
o
Standard tests are not designed to detect MVD,
which causes many women who have MVD to be diagnosed as low risk for heart
disease.
·
Family history, just as with men, increases the
risk of a woman suffering from CVD
·
The vast majority of deaths are due to
modifiable risk factors such as: smoking, high cholesterol, unhealthy diet,
high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes.
·
Less than one hour of physical activity per week
makes a woman 2.48 times more likely than a woman of normal weight
·
Smoking doubles a woman’s risk of suffering a
stroke.
·
Exposure to second-hand smoke increases a woman’s
risk for CVD by 15%.
·
High blood pressure makes a woman 3.5 times more
likely to develop CHD.
·
Each year, there are 320,000 new cases of heart
failure diagnosed in women.
·
The overall death rate from heart failure in
women is 82.3% (with 72.2% for white women and 79.7% for black women).
·
Woman tend to suffer from high blood pressure at
greater numbers than men once they reach the age of 64.
·
Women with diabetes are also at a greater risk
of CVD death than their male counterparts
·
31% of all heart transplant patients are women.
·
32.9% of percutaneous coronary intervention
(PCI) patients are women.
o
PCI is a procedure that unblocks narrowed
coronary arteries without surgery.
It is time for women
to think Red for heart health. Make sure
that you know your numbers (blood pressure, cholesterol, etc.), keep your
weight within a healthy range and exercise regularly as you indulge in a
healthy diet. Educate yourself and your
sisters, cousins, friends and neighbors.
There is no need for CVD to continue to be the number one reason that
women are dying. It is preventable.
Beginning today,
make it a point to S.O.S. (Save Our Sisters).
