By Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
December 13, 2022 – Heart disease or Cardiovascular disease is a catch all term for all the things that can go wrong with your built in ticker from age, unhealthy habits or genetics and it’s the number one killer globally taking an estimated 17.9 million lives each year.
Roughly, half of that number are women making it the leading cause of premature death for women; more than five times deadlier than breast cancer.
According to the World Health Organization types of heart disease include:
- coronary heart disease – a disease of the blood vessels supplying the heart muscle;
- cerebrovascular disease – a disease of the blood vessels supplying the brain;
- peripheral arterial disease – a disease of blood vessels supplying the arms and legs;
- rheumatic heart disease – damage to the heart muscle and heart valves from rheumatic fever, caused by streptococcal bacteria;
- congenital heart disease – birth defects that affect the normal development and functioning of the heart caused by malformations of the heart structure from birth; and
- deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism – blood clots in the leg veins, which can dislodge and move to the heart and lungs as well as several others.
Not mentioned in the list are heart attacks which can come on suddenly due to a blockage on the veins or arteries. Coronary heart disease is by far the most prevalent and is caused by a buildup up plaque in the arteries; this is what often leads to heart attacks.
One in five women die from heart disease but many are unaware that they even have the disease because women present differently from men.
First of all women are less likely to show symptoms and more likely to have difficult to diagnose types of heart disease including coronary microvascular disease, broken heart syndrome and variant angina.
There are several things to look out for that may point to the possibility of heart disease in women and can help you protect yourself, your sisters and other female relatives from serious illness and death.
Women should be concerned if they have: pain or pressure in the chest; pain or discomfort in the arms, jaw or back; shortness of breath; nausea; fatigue; dizziness or light-headedness and cold sweats.
All of the signs can point to worsening heart disease. But don’t depend on these symptoms to warn you about heart disease as many women get no warning at all. Instead assess your lifestyle choices.
Older women and women with a family history of heart disease are more at risk for developing the condition but certain everyday risk factors can make you more likely to develop the condition. These include: stress; an unhealthy diet; inactivity; being overweight; smoking or being exposed to secondhand smoke; diabetes and high blood pressure.
Removing these risk factors, eating healthy and forgoing fatty food can make a huge difference in your life and substantially lower the risk of heart disease.