There are still misperceptions about cardiovascular disease in
women. Sometimes women don’t think of it as a real problem or
they lack a complete understanding of their risks.
Major Risk Factors that Can’t Be Changed
Increasing Age
Over 83 percent of people who die of coronary
heart disease are 65 or older. At older ages, women who have heart
attacks are more likely than men are to die from them within a few
weeks.
Gender
Men have a greater risk of heart attack than women do, and they
have attacks earlier in life. Even after menopause, when women’s
death rate from heart disease increases, it’s not as great as men’s.
Heredity/Race
Children of parents with heart disease are more likely to develop
it themselves. African Americans have more severe high blood
pressure than Caucasians and a higher risk of heart disease. Heart
disease risk is also higher among Mexican Americans, American
Indians, native Hawaiians and some Asian Americans. This is partly
due to higher rates of obesity and diabetes. Most people with a
strong family history of heart disease have one or more other risk
factors.
Major Risk Factors that Can Be Changed
There are a number of risk factors that you can do something about.
The key is to take action now! It is never to late to improve your life
by making intelligent, healthy choices.
Smoking
Cigarette smoking is a powerful independent risk factor for sudden
cardiac death in patients with coronary heart disease; smokers have
about twice the risk of nonsmokers. Cigarette smoking also acts
with other risk factors to greatly increase the risk for coronary heart
disease. People who smoke cigars or pipes seem to have a higher
risk of death from coronary heart disease (and possibly stroke) but
their risk isn’t as great as cigarette smokers’. Exposure to other people’s
smoke increases the risk of heart disease even for nonsmokers.
High Cholesterol
As blood cholesterol rises, so does risk of coronary heart disease.
When other risk factors (such as high blood pressure and tobacco
smoke) are present, this risk increases even more. A person’s cholesterol
level is also affected by age, sex, heredity and diet. Your
total cholesterol should be below 200 mg/dL, and your HDL (good)
cholesterol should be 40 g/dL or higher.
High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure increases the heart’s workload, causing the
heart to thicken and become stiffer. It also increases your risk of
stroke, heart attack, kidney failure and congestive heart failure.
When high blood pressure exists with obesity, smoking, high blood
cholesterol levels or diabetes, the risk of heart attack or stroke increases
several times.
Physical Inactivity
An inactive lifestyle is a risk factor for coronary heart disease.
Regular, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity helps prevent heart
and blood vessel disease. The more vigorous the activity, the greater
your benefi ts. However, even moderate-intensity activities help if
done regularly and long term. Physical activity can help control
blood cholesterol, diabetes and obesity, as well as help lower blood
pressure in some people.
Obesity & Overweight
People who have excess body fat — especially if a lot of it is at the
waist — are more likely to develop heart disease and stroke even if
they have no other risk factors. Excess weight increases the heart’s
work. It also raises blood pressure and blood cholesterol and triglyceride
levels, and lowers HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels. It
can also make diabetes more likely to develop. Many obese and
overweight people may have diffi culty losing weight. But by losing
even as few as 10 pounds, you can lower your heart disease risk.
Diabetes
Diabetes seriously increases your risk of developing cardiovascular
disease. Even when glucose (blood sugar) levels are under control,
diabetes increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, but the risks
are even greater if blood sugar is not well controlled. About threequarters
of people with diabetes die of some form of heart or blood
vessel disease. If you have diabetes, it’s extremely important to
work with your healthcare provider to manage it and control any
other risk factors you can. |
Stats
• Cardiovascular
disease (CVD) ranks
fi rst among all
disease categories in
hospital discharges
for women.
• Nearly 39 percent
of all female deaths
in America occur from
CVD, which includes
coronary heart disease
(CHD), stroke and other
cardiovascular diseases.
• In 2003, coronary heart
disease claimed the
lives of 483,842 females
while cancer (all forms
combined) 267,902.
• Thirty-eight percent of
women compared with
twenty-five percent of
men will die within one
year after a heart attack.
• African American
women ages 55-65 are
twice as likely as white
women to have a heart
attack.
• Women who smoke risk
having a heart attack 19
years earlier than nonsmoking
women.
• Smokers’ risk of
developing coronary
heart disease is 2–4
times that of nonsmokers.
• Data from the National
Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey
1999- 2004 shows that
the estimated prevalence
of high blood
pressure in adults age
20 and older in the
United States is now
72.0 million. pressure,
heart disease and stroke.
• About 36.6 million
American adults have
cholesterol levels of 240
mg/dL or higher — the
point at which it becomes
a major risk factor for
coronary heart disease
and stroke.
• Data released by the
Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
show that 30.1 percent of
American adults engage
in light-moderate physical
activity for at least 30
minutes on 5 or more
days a week, or vigorous
physical activity for at
least 20 minutes on 3 or
more days a week.
• About 66 percent of
Americans age 20 and
older are overweight or
obese.
• At least 65 percent of
people with diabetes die
of some form of heart or
blood vessel disease. |
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