The cold, hard facts about women and heart disease
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PrintOne in Three women dies of Cardiovascular Disease……. Don’t let it be you! The #1 killer of American women is not breast cancer, it is heart disease.
Facts:
• Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a broad term used to describe a range of diseases that affect your heart or blood vessels. This includes coronary artery disease, heart attack, heart failure, high blood pressure, stroke and peripheral arterial disease.
• Cardiovascular disease kills 480,000 women a year, about one per minute.
• Cardiovascular diseases kill nearly 12 times as many American females as breast cancer.
• Stroke kills 2.3 times as many American females as breast cancer.
• Many minority women, including African American, Hispanic, and Native American women, have a greater prevalence of risk factors or are at a higher risk of death from heart disease, stroke, and other CVD.
Myth or fact?
Women generally develop heart disease at a later age than men.
• Fact: on average, coronary artery disease presents 10 years later in life in women than in men, due to our different chemical makeup. Around the age of 65, or after menopause begins, estrogen levels drop, making women more likely to have high triglycerides and low HDL (“good” cholesterol). For men, their HDL levels begin dropping with the start of puberty, leading to earlier risk for heart disease.
Myth or fact?
Taking estrogen after menopause prevents heart disease.
• Myth: according to the 2007 Guidelines for Preventing Cardiovascular Disease in Women, women should not use menopausal therapies such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) such as raloxifene or tamoxifene to prevent heart disease because they have been shown to be ineffective in protecting the heart and may increase the risk of stroke.
What you can do:
Bellin offers Women Heart Health Assessments on a regular basis. An RN will evaluate your risk of developing heart disease or stroke through cholesterol, blood pressure, height and weight measurements. A Framingham risk score will also be calculated to determine your 10 year risk of developing a heart attack or stroke
For more information, or to schedule an appointment, call the Heart and Vascular Center Line at (920) 445-7363 and ask for a Women’s Heart Health Assessment.
