DISCUSSION OF

Women, it’s time to take your health to heart. Approximately 43 million women in the U.S. are affected by heart disease. In fact, heart disease is the leading killer among females, causing 1 in 3 women’s deaths each year.

Source: American Heart Association www.heartofthevillages.com

Cardiovascular medications are used for one of two reasons: Primary prevention or secondary prevention. In primary prevention, the goal is to decrease the likelihood of developing heart disease. The most commonly prescribed drugs in this category are the “statins”, which are well known for their cholesterol-lowering abilities. Specifically, they lower the bad cholesterol (LDL) and raise the good cholesterol (HDL), thereby reducing the risk of plaque buildup within the arteries. A main goal of secondary prevention is to reduce symptoms in those people already diagnosed with some form of heart disease. Drugs typically used include those that increase the pumping ability of the heart, increase blood flow to the coronary arteries, and decrease the risk of heart attack, associated complications, and death.

An inexpensive and non-invasive test known as an echo-cardiogram (echo) is one way to evaluate structural heart disease. An echo is an ultrasound of the heart that uses sound waves to evaluate structural abnormalities in the heart muscle, valves, and plumbing. It can help your doctor estimate the pump strength — known as the ejection fraction — of your heart. It can assess wall abnormalities, which helps identify areas that may have been damaged by a heart attack or are lacking blood supply. It can also detect narrowing or leaky heart valves.