Are You Headed Toward Heart Disease? Take These 6 Steps to Reduce Your Risk
By Jennifer H. Mieres, M.D. and Stacey E. Rosen, M.D. Here’s a health fact that should get every woman’s attention: Women are far more likely to die of heart disease than from all forms of cancer. That is a clear indication of how important it is to know how to prevent or minimize your risk for heart disease. But having that urgency can sometimes be difficult because heart disease can masquerade as indigestion, breathlessness, or general fatigue, thereby delaying early diagnosis. For women, heart disease can present with symptoms other than chest pain or chest pressure. It can develop silently over many years and does not always announce its presence and prompt you to seek treatment. According to the American Heart Association, 9 out of 10 women have one or more risk factors for heart disease, and 1 in 3 women will die of heart disease. While most women are worried about breast cancer, heart disease will claim the lives of more women than from all cancers combined. Women and men share certain risk factors: smoking, high
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Heart Health 2023
blood pressure, diabetes, a sedentary lifestyle, high cholesterol, and a family history of heart problems. But there are important differences that are unique to or more dangerous for women: • Diabetic women are three to seven times more likely to die from heart disease than diabetic men. • Women tend to be more obese, more inclined to have a sedentary lifestyle, and more likely to suffer from hypertension and diabetes than men. • There are sex/gender-specific risk factors for heart disease and heart attacks in women. These include women who have had early menopause and those with pregnancyrelated complications such as gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, and eclampsia. Women with inflammatory or auto-immune diseases, such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis, are at increased risk for heart disease, as well as women with cardiac issues related to breast cancer treatment and those with stress, depression, and anxiety.
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