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HowToPreventHeartDisease.com |
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Heart Disease Prevention for Women According to the Center of Disease Control (CDC), heart disease was the leading cause of death in women. Every year, heart disease takes away the life of 1 out of 3 women, and one woman dies every minute from cardiovascular disease (CVD). More women than men die of heart disease each year, and women are less likely than men to receive appropriate treatment after a heart attack. General perception believes cancer is more fatal, but in reality, this is not true. In 2006, there were a total of 432,709 female deaths in the United States. The figure was more than the combined deaths from all cancers, chronic lower respiratory disease, Alzheimer's disease, and accidents. Undoubtedly, awareness has been raised about women’s heart disease. In a national survey of women of all races, the number of women who identified CVD as the leading cause of heart disease has almost doubled since 1997. However, respondents also cited confusion about basic prevention strategies. This indicates that the health authorities and experts still need to do more to ensure all women, regardless of race have clear and current information regarding heart disease including how to adopt preventive steps to avoid getting CVD. Currently, there are still more than 42 million women living with or at risk of heart disease in the United States. This is partly due to the fact that differences still persist among health experts in the diagnosis and treatment for women with heart disease.
Coronary heart disease, which causes heart attack, is the single leading cause of death for American women. There are many reasons why women are more vulnerable to heart attack than men, but the main one is lack of awareness! In fact, the atypical nature of women’s heart attack symptoms often delay them seeking treatment as they do not recognize the symptoms of heart attack. Some risk factors for heart disease and stroke are uncontrollable. These include increasing age, sex, family history, previous heart attack, stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA or mini-stroke). Other risk factors like excessive alcohol consumption, diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure (hypertension), high blood cholesterol, obesity and overweight, physical inactivity, stress, tobacco smoking, and high triglyceride levels, can be modified, treated or controlled by changing lifestyle habits and taking medication. Women also share the common risk factor of menopause. There are estrogen receptor sites inside the coronary arteries and the overall loss of circulating estrogen within the vessels might significantly raise a woman's risk for cardiovascular disease. Moreover, women who had high blood pressure, diabetes during pregnancy, chemotherapy, radiation treatment for breast cancer and those with polycystic ovary syndrome are also considered at risk. But do you know that more than 85 percent of heart attack and stroke can be prevented through awareness, symptom recognition and control of risk factors. Heart experts, therefore, highlighted the following gender-specific heart attack symptoms with which women should familiarize: - Chest discomfort, tightness, uncomfortable pressure, fullness, squeezing in the center of the chest generally occurring with some form of exertion - Discomfort in the upper back between the shoulder blades - Dizziness, nausea - Pain or discomfort in the neck, jaw or teeth - Unexplained feelings of anxiety, fatigue or weakness - Unusual shortness of breath All women should pay serious attention to their heart health. Learning the risk for heart disease, knowing how to live a heart healthy lifestyle and recognizing the signs and symptoms of heart disease are very important when they need evaluation and treatment. 3 women heart attack survivors who transformed the isolation, confusion and ignorance about women’s heart disease into a rallying call to save women’s lives founded WomenHeart. This is the only national organization in the United States dedicated to promoting women’s heart health through advocacy, education and patient support. To get a FREE women’s health heart action kit, just visit the following site:
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