Women and Heart Disease
Our last post gave an overview of heart disease and gave a brief synopsis of women’s misconceptions of heart disease. Here a just a few more facts on the number one killer of women.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sites:
- 1 in 5 females in the U.S. have some form of heart disease.
- A woman dies from heart disease every 34 seconds.
- African-American and Mexican-American women have higher heart disease and stroke risk factors than white women of comparable socioeconomic status.
- The prevalence of high blood pressure in minority women in the U.S. is among the highest in the world.
- Coronary heart disease rates in women after menopause are 2-3 times those of women the same age before menopause.
- Heart disease claims more women’s lives than the next 8 causes of deaths combined . . . including breast cancer.
- Most women begin to develop heart disease at a very young age.
- Over 35% of American women are overweight.
- Over 25% of American women smoke.
Nevertheless, there are many things women can do to avoid or manage heart disease. For example, regular visits to one’s primary care physician can give a better idea of where one stands in terms of blood pressure testing, as well as providing lab tests that can measure cholesterol levels.
There are also many outside resources that can help educate women on the risks of heart disease. Online heart live chats are quickly becoming a widely used resource in the medical industry. NorthShore University HealthSystem’s innovative approach to helping people in need of further understanding is just one of the ways in which the issue of heart disease is being dealt with.
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