Despite the warnings from the American Heart Association, many women are under the misconception that heart disease affects only men. Unfortunately, this couldn't be further than the truth. In fact, heart disease is the leading cause of death among American women. If you've been living in the dark, here's everything you need to know about heart disease.
Statistics
The numbers don't lie. Heart disease affects over 42 million women. Out of those 42 million, 8 million have suffered from a heart attack and/or angina. These numbers are staggering to those who believe men are the only ones who need to be concerned about this health issue. Something else women need to realize is that over 35% of women over the age of 20 will die from heart disease. Another staggering fact is that around 200,000 women will die from a heart attack this year, five times as many as those who will die from breast cancer. Last, but not least, women account for over 56% of heart failure deaths.
How Men and Women Are Different
As with most things in life, men and women are very different when it comes to heart disease. First of all, women experience different symptoms than men. Women experience shortness of breath with a change in activity, and while they may experience chest pain, it isn't as big of a symptom as it is with men. Another difference is that women have some form of protection from from heart disease because of their increased estrogen level, but this protection decreases as they age. Because of this decrease, women are more likely to experience heart disease in their 50s and 60s. However, this is changing due to the American diet and the earlier onset of menopause.
Risk Factors & Prevention
A number of risks that can increase a woman's chance for heart disease include high cholesterol, smoking, family history, PCOS and age. However, weight, race and diabetes can also increase your chances of getting heart disease. Changing bad habits early and closely monitoring risk factors that you cannot control will greatly lower the risks.
You have a number of ways to help prevent heart disease. The first line of defense is to change your diet and start an exercise routine. You should also discuss your risks with your doctor and resolve to give up bad habits, such as smoking, that are putting you at greater risk. Heart disease is not a man's disease. The numbers make it clear that more women die of heart failure than men. Sadly, one of the reasons is that women choose to ignore their symptoms and the facts. Don't become another statistic. Talk to your doctor today about the risks and whether or not your heart is healthy.
According to the American Heart Association, heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States, for women as well as men. However, there are many things people don’t know about heart disease. There are different forms of the disease, which include coronary artery disease (CAD), high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, heart failure, and heart attacks.
To help increase awareness about the dangers of heart disease, there has been a big push in recent years to improve heart-healthy behavior. This advice usually emphasizes lifestyle changes to improve, decreased cholesterol levels, increased exercise, maintaining a healthy body weight, and avoiding cigarette smoking. These efforts at educating all of us have resulted in a steady decrease in the rate of death from heart disease for men. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for women.
So what’s happening here? Part of the problem, says the National Institutes of Health, is that risks for, symptoms of, and responses to heart and cardiovascular disease for women can vary significantly from those of men. Women’s symptoms tend to be more subtle and less predictable. Women also tend to underestimate the danger of cardiovascular disease. This means they may not take preventive measures, pay attention to warning signs (if they even know what the warning signs are!), or get treatment for symptoms.
In a survey conducted by researchers involving women who had experienced a heart attack, less than a third reported any early warning signs involving chest pain or discomfort. Acute symptoms experienced during the attack included shortness of breath, weakness, fatigue, cold sweats, and dizziness. In contrast to most men, fewer than half of these women reported some degree of pressure, pain or tightness of the chest during the critical time of attack onset.
For women, here are the nine primary symptoms of heart disease:
1. Feeling really tired, even after getting enough sleep
2. Trouble sleeping
3. Trouble breathing
4. Feeling sick to your stomach
5. Feeling scared or nervous
6. A burning feeling in the chest
7. Pain in the back between the shoulders
8. Pain in the belly, above your belly button
9. Pain or tightness in the chest that spreads to the jaw, neck, shoulders, ear, or inside of the arms
The problem here is that symptoms of heart disease for women — such as tiredness or trouble sleeping — mirror the symptoms of many other health problems. The solution seems to be to go for regular checkups. Get your blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and other heart measures checked regularly. Don’t pass up on the chance to get these tests done and help prevent symptoms escalating to the point of a heart attack.
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