February is American Heart Month. Did you know that in the United States heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women? Yes, both!
The following are top risk factors for heart disease that can usually be treated to reduce your risk.
- Smoking. Please quit.
- Diabetes. Keeping your blood sugar close to normal will lessen the risk.
- Metabolic syndrome. This is a combination of high triglycerides, high blood pressure, obesity and high blood sugar, and with proper treatment can be reversed.
- Obesity. Get that extra weight off … it could save your life.
- High levels of specific inflammatory markers. There are treatments to decrease these markers.
- Family history. This is the only one you really cannot do anything about. However, the good news is that it’s not the primary cause of heart disease.
Women have some unique risk factors making them more vulnerable. These include:
- Autoimmune disease. Women suffer from autoimmune diseases at a higher rate than men.
- Inflammatory conditions.
- Hormone imbalances.
- Hypertension during menopause. Often this is missed completely.
- Stress and depression.
In addition, women are different than men in ways that make heart disease more fatal.
Presentation
Women’s symptoms for a heart attack are usually nonspecific and include nausea, vomiting, indigestion, back pain, fatigue and/or shortness of breath. Because these symptoms may seem non-threatening, women don’t always seek intervention quickly.
Diagnosis
When women do seek intervention, healthcare providers often fail to recognize these as symptoms of a heart attack, leading to a delay in diagnosis.
Anatomy
Finally, if the diagnosis is made accurately, an added hurdle is the fact that women’s arteries are generally much smaller than those of men, so even a small clot can completely block essential blood flow to the heart, brain or lungs. Smaller arteries also mean that the placement of arterial stents and cardiac bypass surgery are much more challenging and often less successful.
So, if you are a woman and you have one or more of the risk factors listed above, you are at risk. Seek out a provider who is aware of the gender differences. If you need a starting point, please call our office.
595 Elm Place, Suite 208
Highland Park
Illinois
847-681-8821
myfreshskin.com
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