By Joseph Hazan,M.D.,FACOG
Cardiovascular disease kills more women than
any other disease.
This is 12 times as often as
breast cancer related mortality.
Women also have been victims of
heart diease more often
than men for over 25 years.
The fact is that one
in three women die unexpectedly
of heart disease.
SYMPTOMS
Generally there is very little chest pain,
but mostly, shortness of breath and
weakness.
Sometimes neck, arm and back
pain are the presenting symptoms.
Abdominal or shoulder discomfort
with nausea, may mimic indigestion.
WHY SO COMMON?
It is now known that women at
the high risk age group of 45-64
are simply unhealthy at
alarming rates.
This is due to the widespread
incidence of obesity, high blood
pressure, elevated cholesterol,
diabetes and prediabetes.
Prediabetes is found in about
one third of women
aged 45-54.
High cholesterol is found in 60% of
the same age group, one third have
high blood pressure, one in five
smoke and two thirds are
overweight.
It thus becomes obvious that
this is a lifestyle-related health
problem, linked to the obesity
epidemic.
It is directly increased with high body
weight, high blood pressure,
high cholesterol and
high blood glucose.
Therefore it is manageable by
proper diet.
Depression is another common
risk factor.
Women with a history of depression,
anger management problems and
stress factors also
contribute to increased risk.
The highest risk factor is a
waist circumference
of over 35 inches.
If you or any female you know
has a waist circumference over 35 inches,
a thorough
evaluation is needed.
Women who lost 5% of their body
weight and
exercised two and a half hours
per week lowered
their risk of diabetes by 58%.
Tomorrow we will continue to
look into this most
serious healthcare risk for women.
Leave a Reply