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HowToPreventHeartDisease.com |
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Heart Disease Prevention Guidelines A Must for Women! Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involves heart and blood vessels (arteries and veins). The many problems caused by CVD are actually related to atherosclerosis that develops when plaque builds up in the walls of arteries. The buildup not only narrows the arteries but also restricts blood flow. Once the blood flow is stopped, heart attack or stroke can simply occur. High and increasing rates of CVD have been reported in many countries. In United Kingdom, CVD is the biggest killer. Every year, heart disease kills more Americans than cancer. According to the statistics provided by the American Heart Association (AHA), nearly 37 percent of all female in United States died of CVD, including coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke and other cardiovascular diseases (heart failure, arrhythmia and heart valve problems). Many women are not aware that CVD is a real problem for them. A study conducted in 2003 by AHA on more than 1,000 women revealed that only 13 percent of women in the United States believe that heart disease and stroke are the greatest health threat to them. It is expected that the underlying cause (atherosclerosis) can be quite advanced by the time heart problems are detected. Therefore, it is necessary adhere to some preventive guidelines that include healthy diet, regular exercise and quit smoking in order to prevent atherosclerosis.
The AHA’s cardiovascular disease prevention guidelines for women were first published in 1999. The guidelines have been primarily based on findings gathered in clinical research. But according to health experts, that often does not take into account of personal and socioeconomic factors, which can keep women from following medical advice and treatment. For instance, many women seeking help at clinics and hospitals are older, sicker and experience more side effects than those featured in the research studies. Doctors at clinics and hospitals are more likely to face obstacles including poverty, low literacy level, psychiatric illness, poor English skills, and vision and hearing problems, that could prevent them from improving their patients’ cardiovascular health. In view of this, AHA update its 2011 guidelines by identifying possible barriers that impede patients and doctors following guidelines and meanwhile outlining relevant strategies to deal with these barriers. Awareness is the key driver. Therefore, campaigns like ‘Go Red for Women’ and ‘Get With The Guidelines’, which can broaden awareness and improve adherence among patients and health providers, should be encouraged. Initiating conversation with the patient is an important step for the doctors. If the doctors do not ask their female patients questions such as ‘do you take your medicine regularly as prescribed’, ‘do you have any side effect’ or ‘do you follow the recommended lifestyle behaviors’, then the problems would never be uncovered. One should not forget that one of the best strategies to lower the risk of heart disease in women is to improve compliance to preventive medications and lifestyle behaviors. The guidelines also incorporate conditions, like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and pregnancy complications, which are associated with higher risk of cardiovascular disease in women. In fact, having pregnancy complications can now be considered equivalent to having failed a stress test. While these conditions might not be the traditional risk factors for heart disease, the patient should ask if she would be at risk of getting heart disease if the doctor does not bring these up. The importance of recognizing racial and ethnic differences and the impact on cardiovascular disease has also been mentioned in the updated guidelines. For instance, diabetes is a particular problem among Hispanic women while hypertension among African-American women. While solid scientific evidence is still the foundation for many of the guidelines, putting clinical research into practical and adhering guidelines can still be very challenging. The effectiveness of some commonly suggested therapies, like use of hormone replacement therapy, antioxidants and folic acid, listed in the guidelines, in preventing cardiovascular disease lacks support from strong clinical evidence. And in fact, some of these might even be harmful to some women.
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