Heart disease has long been considered a man’s disease, but nothing could be further from the truth. Women and men develop heart disease at nearly equal rates, and believe it or not, more women than men die from heart disease each year. Both genders are at risk, and men and women of all ages can develop cardiovascular disease. In men, disease typically presents earlier, while women often develop heart problems a bit later in life.
February is Go Red for Women month, and today is National Wear Red Day. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women in the U.S. — second only to all types of cancer combined. While most women worry about their risk for dying from breast or uterine cancer, the greatest risk to their health is heart disease. Heart disease in women can be more difficult to diagnose, since symptoms are sometimes different; instead of chest pain and shortness of breath, women may present with fatigue, feelings of dread or flu-like symptoms.
[See: 17 Ways Heart Health Varies in Women and Men.]
The vague nature of symptoms in women can make it difficult for both patients and doctors to recognize the presence of disease — which can lead to delays in diagnosis and treatment. Due to these delays, women often don’t get timely therapy and are at risk for more complications related to heart disease. In fact, women who have heart attacks are more likely to die when compared to men with similar disease. While we’ve made significant progress in the recognition and treatment of heart disease in the last decade, we still have a long way to go. That’s why in February, we pause to recognize the plight of women with heart disease.
In the last decade, health care professionals have begun to recognize that women are significantly under-treated and under-served when it comes to heart disease. In addition to the fact that health care providers often don’t recognize the symptoms in women, treatment in women overall is not as aggressive. Men are much more likely to be treated with urgent cardiac catheterization — a procedure designed to open blocked heart arteries that cause heart attacks.
However, 95 percent of adult women have at least one risk factor for heart disease — and almost half of women are not aware of the risks. While 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer (and the majority of American women get routine screening for breast cancer), 1 in 3 women will die from heart disease; consider that one woman dies every 80 seconds from heart-related illness.
What Are the Risk Factors for Heart Disease in Women?
The risk factors for heart disease are similar in men and women. They produce inflammation (known to increase risk for heart and blood vessels disease), and can cause blood vessels to become stiff, hardened and filled with fatty plaques. Ultimately, these changes can result in heart attack and stroke. Women must make sure they “know their numbers” in order to carefully assess their individual risk. Risk factors you can help manage include:
1. Diabetes
2. High blood pressure
3. Family history of heart disease
4. Obesity
6. Smoking
While we cannot impact our genetics, all women can take control of other modifiable risk factors. In fact, a woman’s greatest risk may be lack of awareness.
[See: The 12 Best Heart-Healthy Diets.]
What Factors Contribute to the Under-Treatment of Women?
There are multiple reasons women tend to be under-treated and under-served. Some are societal, and some are individual and quite complex, but all can be addressed and impacted.
Women often put the needs of others — family, children and spouse — ahead of their own, putting off preventative care. Many women don’t recognize their risk and often don’t take their symptoms seriously. In addition, many women have multiple roles and have increased pressures to succeed in all aspects of their lives — as a workplace professional, as a wife and mother, and as a caregiver for older parents.
What Can Women Do to Improve Their Own Heart Health?
It’s critical that all women become engaged in their own health care. Know your risks for heart disease — family history, high blood pressure, smoking, high cholesterol, diabetes and obesity. Then, once you’ve identified your risk for disease, work with your health care provider to modify risk and improve your health. Each woman must take control of her own cardiac health in order to change the statistics for heart disease in women in the future. Eating a healthy diet and maintaining a healthy body weight through regular exercise can significantly impact your risk, for example. And Type 2 diabetes, which is directly related to the development of heart disease, can be reversed by reducing body weight to optimal levels. High blood pressure can be treated with medications, and in many cases, weight loss can also eliminate high blood pressure. While both genetics and lifestyle contribute to the development of high cholesterol, a combination of drug therapy and exercise and diet can impact risk.
[See: The Facts on Heart Disease.]
Ultimately, it’s important we continue to advocate for the women in our lives — our mothers, our spouses, our sisters and our children. We must continue to educate one another and work to make sure health care providers are more equipped to recognize and treat heart disease in women. Finally, we must produce more research into heart disease and women, which will help provide insight into how better to treat women and improve survival.
It all starts with you. Wear red today, and show your support in the fight to eliminate heart-disease related deaths in women.
More from U.S. News
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17 Ways Heart Health Varies in Women and Men
The 12 Best Heart-Healthy Diets
Go Red for Women to Raise Awareness and Improve Heart Disease Care originally appeared on usnews.com
