Over a lifetime, Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) becomes an equal-opportunity killer. It is the single leading cause of death
among women, killing nearly 229,000 in-more than stroke, lung cancer
and breast cancer combined. Yet polls show more than 75% of women do not
know that heart disease is their biggest threat. They are more
frightened of breast cancer. The bottom line in women are not as worried about heart attacks as they should be, what should women do?
Women’s heart attacks can be easy to miss for doctors who are not on the ball. In survey, 88% of primary-care doctors did not know that the signs and symptoms of heart disease can be different in women than in men. Nor did 35% recognize heart disease as women’s top killer. Even at hospital, the front line for heart-attack treatment, doctors take longer to diagnose heart attacks in women.
A doctor witnessed a man in his mid-40s and a woman in her 60s arriving at an ER. “The man said. ‘Heart,’ so every one jumped to it. The woman said, ‘I feel sick,’ and did not impress on people there was something serious.” When the EKG results came back, a doctor snapped at the technician for mixing them up. But there was no mistake. The man had indigestion. The woman was having a heart attack.
Women often push aside pain and soldier on. “I have had patients having heart attacks who clean their house and make sure everything is in order before going to the hospital, possibly because they tend to arrive at hospitals later than men, women having heart attack are less likely to get clot-busting drugs. (The drugs must be soon after symptoms appear). That may be why women are also more likely than men to die after a heart attack.
Other reason for women’s increased heart-attack deaths? They have lower rates of a key test, cardiac catheterization, in which dye injected via a catheter snaked into the heart vessels, enabling doctors to see blockages. Women also are not treated as aggressively with surgery or angioplasty.
The difference in treatment may stem from doctors’ reluctance to subject female heart patients, usually older and frailer than male patients, to traumatic procedures. An expert says: “If we really tried to offer men and women equally aggressive treatment, we might change the mortality data.”
Start Prevention Early:
Nearly two-third of women who die suddenly from heart attacks has no warning symptoms. A report reveals that younger women hospitalized for heart attacks died at higher rates than their male counterparts. So prevention is crucial.
The Steps Are Straightforward:
Clean up your lifestyle. Do not smoke: maintain a healthy weight; eat low fat diet with variety of fruits and vegetables; exercise regularly.
Watch blood pressure and cholesterol. In women, levels of “good HDL cholesterol are especially important you can be in danger if they are too low (less than 35 mg/dl.), even if your overall cholesterol is normal. Women should also watch triglycerides; high level may put them at greater risk than men. Levels less than 200 are desirable.
Discuss hormone-replacement therapy with your doctor. It is been associated with a lower long term incidence of heart disease, but results from several trials suggest HRT may increase risk slightly during the initial years of treatment. Your physician can help sort out benefits and risks.
Women’s heart attacks can be easy to miss for doctors who are not on the ball. In survey, 88% of primary-care doctors did not know that the signs and symptoms of heart disease can be different in women than in men. Nor did 35% recognize heart disease as women’s top killer. Even at hospital, the front line for heart-attack treatment, doctors take longer to diagnose heart attacks in women.
A doctor witnessed a man in his mid-40s and a woman in her 60s arriving at an ER. “The man said. ‘Heart,’ so every one jumped to it. The woman said, ‘I feel sick,’ and did not impress on people there was something serious.” When the EKG results came back, a doctor snapped at the technician for mixing them up. But there was no mistake. The man had indigestion. The woman was having a heart attack.
Women often push aside pain and soldier on. “I have had patients having heart attacks who clean their house and make sure everything is in order before going to the hospital, possibly because they tend to arrive at hospitals later than men, women having heart attack are less likely to get clot-busting drugs. (The drugs must be soon after symptoms appear). That may be why women are also more likely than men to die after a heart attack.
Other reason for women’s increased heart-attack deaths? They have lower rates of a key test, cardiac catheterization, in which dye injected via a catheter snaked into the heart vessels, enabling doctors to see blockages. Women also are not treated as aggressively with surgery or angioplasty.
The difference in treatment may stem from doctors’ reluctance to subject female heart patients, usually older and frailer than male patients, to traumatic procedures. An expert says: “If we really tried to offer men and women equally aggressive treatment, we might change the mortality data.”
Start Prevention Early:
Nearly two-third of women who die suddenly from heart attacks has no warning symptoms. A report reveals that younger women hospitalized for heart attacks died at higher rates than their male counterparts. So prevention is crucial.
The Steps Are Straightforward:
Clean up your lifestyle. Do not smoke: maintain a healthy weight; eat low fat diet with variety of fruits and vegetables; exercise regularly.
Watch blood pressure and cholesterol. In women, levels of “good HDL cholesterol are especially important you can be in danger if they are too low (less than 35 mg/dl.), even if your overall cholesterol is normal. Women should also watch triglycerides; high level may put them at greater risk than men. Levels less than 200 are desirable.
Discuss hormone-replacement therapy with your doctor. It is been associated with a lower long term incidence of heart disease, but results from several trials suggest HRT may increase risk slightly during the initial years of treatment. Your physician can help sort out benefits and risks.
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