THINK OF THESE – Women’s enemy no. 1

Ask women what disease they’re most afraid of, and the vast majority will answer breast cancer. The truth is, however, they have far more to fear from heart disease. “Although most women fear cancer, particularly breast cancer, they do not make the same efforts to safeguard themselves from heart disease, which is eminently preventable,” the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO) says.
Although many people think of heart disease as a man’s problem, women can and do get heart disease. Each year, over eight million women around the world die from heart disease or stroke, according to the World Heart Federation. This is almost 8 times higher than from those who die of breast cancer. In developing countries, half of all deaths of women over 50 are due to heart disease and stroke.
“There’s a big gap between what women fear and what really endangers them,” notes Dr. Ann Taubenheim, of the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). “Even if they know about some of the factors that increase the risk for heart disease, they still don’t connect the dots and understand that it’s their life that’s in jeopardy.”
The heart is a hollow muscle that pumps blood throughout the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions. The adjective cardiac means “related to the heart” and comes from the Greek word “kardia” for heart.
On the average, the human heart beats about 72 times per minute. It beats approximately 2.5 billion times during an average 66 year lifespan. The heart weighs approximately 250 to 300 grams in females and 300 to 350 grams in males.
The heart is a marvel of efficiency. “It is prone to flutter in response to a kiss, skip a few beats in the klieg lights, brace itself in the face of treachery, and a slow slumber – except, of course, during a nasty dream,” wrote Dr. Bernadine Healy in an article which appeared in “US News & World Report.” “This ever vigilant organ sustains all others by pumping up to six gallons of blood per minute.”
That is why, as the line of a song goes, you need to “be careful with your heart.” If not, this is what will happen: “When heart muscle is robbed of its blood supply, the heart either pumps erratically or simply stops beating. Fatty plaques that build up in heart-vessel walls and then burst, blocking blood flow, are the primary cause of heart attacks.”
Heart diseases that affect women more than men include coronary microvascular disease (a problem that affects the heart’s tiny arteries) and broken heart syndrome (those extreme emotional stress leading to severe but often short-term heart muscle failure).
Recent studies conducted by the American Health Association (AHA) show that women who have heart attacks are more likely than men to die within a year, and they’re more likely to have a second heart attack.
The reasons: Signs of heart disease are often overlooked in routine screening tests and symptoms of heart attack differ between men and women. As such, women are less likely to get the aggressive treatment they need following a heart attack. An older woman suffering from abdominal pain might blame it on indigestion when it’s really the sign of an incoming heart attack.
“A woman is three times more likely to be told that symptoms are all in her head,” said Dr. Marianne Legato, director of the Partnership for Women’s Health at Columbia University.
When men and women suffer a major heart attack, medical doctors say the symptoms are similar. “It’s the sensation of an elephant sitting on the chest, crushing it, a cold sweat and pain running up the left side of the neck, and down the left arm,” said Dr. Martha Hill, former president of AHA.
A recent study of more than 500 women who had heart attacks showed that 95% experienced some warning signs a month before their attack.
One of the most common warning signs, ignored by many, doctors say, is unusual fatigue. About 43% of the women had no chest discomfort at all. Lack of chest pain, said Dr. Jean McSweeney, the lead author of the study, may be a major reason that women’s heart attacks are more often unrecognized than men’s and that female patients are mistakenly discharged from emergency rooms.
“Women are also apt to downplay their symptoms,” said Dr. Nisha Chandra-Strobos, the coronary care unit director of Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. “Men are more likely to go to the emergency room with chest pain, and women likely to say, the repair man is coming or I’ve got to get the kids off to school, so I’ll take some drug and maybe it will go away.”
Like men, women’s risk of heart attack rises with age, very sharply after menopause. But only 38% of women over 65 recognize this risk, according to Prevention magazine’s “Survey on Women and Heart Disease.” Doctors, too, don’t always know how to treat heart disease in women.
Unknowingly, more women than men die of strokes (60% of women, 40% of men), even though more men have strokes. Doctors aren’t sure why, but they think it may have to do with women’s smaller blood vessels, which are more vulnerable to blockage.
According to recent studies, women wait longer than men to seek medical help. “Women should not wait to raise the subject of heart disease before they begin taking preventive measures,” said Dr. Healy, who is the dean of the College of Medicine at Ohio State University.
Cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of death worldwide and this is projected to remain so, according to United Nations health agency. Since 1999, the international community observes World Heart Day on the last Sunday of September every year to inform people around the globe that heart disease and stroke are the world’s leading cause of death.
Here are some steps recommended by AHA. These may help protect women from other illnesses, as well as heart disease:
Stop smoking. Smoking is women’s biggest risk factor for heart attack, and the most preventable. Women who smoke and use some types of oral contraceptives have a much higher risk. Women who live with smokers should know that long-term exposure to second-hand smoke might also increase the risk of heart disease.
Reduce high blood pressure, which contributes to the risk of stroke and kidney disease, as well as heart disease. More than half of all women 65 and over have high blood pressure, and pregnant women and those taking oral contraceptives also are susceptible to high blood pressure.
Reduce high blood cholesterol. This is another major risk factor for heart disease, and although studies show that women’s cholesterol is higher than men’s from age 55 on, many doctors fail to check the cholesterol levels of their female patients.
Exercise regularly. Women who are inactive are twice as likely to develop heart disease as those who work out regularly. Thirty minutes of physical activity each day is ideal, such as walking, gardening or cycling. Between 60% and 85% of women are not physically active enough to gain health benefits.
Shed excess weight. Obesity raises heart disease and stroke risk by 30%, even if she has no other risk factors.
“Women of all ages should be concerned about heart disease,” the NHLBI reminds us. “All women can take steps to prevent it by practicing healthy lifestyle habits.”