Heart Disease: A Woman’s Disease, Too
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What is the leading cause of death in the United States for women? At first thought, you may believe that breast cancer is the biggest threat to mortality. While breast cancer is the cause of 1 in every 28 deaths, there is a larger threat that claims 1 out of every 2 deaths.
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Nearly twice as many women die of heart disease and stroke as compared to cancer. Heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are commonly considered men's diseases. Contrarily, CVD is the number 1 killer of both men and women. Nearly 1 woman dies per minute due to heart disease or stroke. CVD has claimed more lives of women than men. Although the seriousness of breast cancer and other diseases should not be taken lightly, they should not overshadow the risk of heart disease and stroke. Women must act to reduce their risk of CVD.
What is CVD? Cardiovascular disease is disease to the cardiovascular system-ischemia, coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction (diseases of the heart); and stroke (a lack of blood supply to an area of the brain due to a blockage in a blood vessel). The American Heart Association (AHA) has identified several CVD risk factors, both primary and secondary.
What are the primary risk factors? They are the risks based upon your age, gender and family history. Increasing Age (the risk of heart disease increases as you grow older), gender (men tend to have a greater risk of heart attack than women, and tend to have attacks earlier in life), family history (you are more likely to develop CVD if you have a family history of heart attacks and even more likely to have a cardiac event if your mother, father or siblings have had an event) and ethnicity (black women have a higher incidence of CVD than white women due to higher levels of blood pressure).
What are the secondary risk factors? Secondary risk factors can be changed. They are lifestyle oriented and are preventable measures you can change to decrease your risk. By controlling and modifying lifestyle or habits or treating with medication, secondary risk factors can be dramatically decreased.
- Tobacco smoking highly increases your risk and is the most preventable cause of death. Stated simply, do not smoke. Smoke and second hand smoke are harmful to everyone and increases the risk of not only heart disease, but also certain kinds of cancers and lung disease.
- High Blood Pressure-hypertension is categorized by a blood pressure reading of 140/90 mmHg and is the leading cause of stroke. Risk of developing high blood pressure increases if you a woman is 20 pounds or more overweight, has a family history of high blood pressure or is pregnant.
- High Cholesterol High levels of cholesterol can block the coronary arteries, the main blood vessels that supply nutrients to the heart, causing the heart to die. High levels of LDL (low density lipoprotein) increase the risk of heart disease while high levels of HDL (high density lipoprotein) actually lower the risk. Research has shown that women generally have higher levels of LDL which increase the risk of CVD.
- Obesity-if you are overweight, especially if fat is accumulated around your waist area, you are at an increased risk. Excessive amounts of fat are associated with increased blood pressure and cholesterol levels, as well as an increased incidence of diabetes.
- Physical Inactivity -research has shown that exercise reduces high blood pressure and cholesterol. Physical activity reduces stress, as well, another risk factors for CVD. Those who perform 30 minutes per day of cardiovascular exercise such as walking, biking or running lower their risk of heart disease and stroke. Conversely, those individuals who are inactive are twice as likely to develop CVD. When you are inactive, you most likely gain weight and thereby, increase your levels of blood pressure and cholesterol.
- Excessive Alcohol Consumption-research shows that that those who consume alcoholic beverages moderately have a lower incidence of CVD. This does not mean that you should increase your intake of alcohol. Excessive alcohol intake likely leads to obesity, which in turn increases blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
- High Stress levels-individuals that experience chronic stress have higher levels of blood pressure. Stressful situations may also lead individuals to cope with these situations in unhealthful manners such as drinking excessive amounts of alcohol and smoking.
Why are women especially at risk? As women age, they are especially at risk due to menopause. Menopause increases the risk of heart disease due to a variety of factors such as weight gain, aging and primarily the deficiency of estrogen.
Research shows that estrogen may protect a woman from developing CVD. During menopause, the body decreases its release of estrogen, thereby increasing the risk. The good news is that there are hormone replacement therapies that can protect a woman's cardiovascular system. Birth control pills carry a small risk of CVD. However, women who take an oral contraceptive and smoke tobacco increase their risk.
What can you do to lower your risk factors? Aside from changing your gender, preventing yourself from aging and modifying your genetics, there are preventable measures you can take.
- First, exercise your heart. A study revealed that women that expended more than 600 calories per week through any type of exercise were half as likely to have heart disease than those that burned less than 200 calories per week. In fact, exercise is prescribed by physicians to treat high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Active women are less likely to be obese, less likely to smoke and more likely to limit alcohol consumption.
- Watch your diet. Limit your intake of fatty foods and foods high in cholesterol. Research shows that diets high in fat and cholesterol increase heart disease and stroke. Red meats, butter and sweets should be consumed sparingly, if at all. Instead, foods lower in fat and cholesterol such as chicken, fish and vegetables. Use spices instead of butter and oil to increase flavor. Eat fruit to satisfy your sweet tooth.
- Consider taking hormone replacement medication. As you age, it is important to combat the effects of menopause. Not only will taking hormone replacements decrease your risk of heart disease, it will also combat the other effects of menopause such as hot flashes, depression and irritability.
The seriousness of CVD in women needs to be recognized by women. Women must take responsibility for taking preventable steps to reduce their risk of heart disease and stroke.
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