March 8 is International Women’s Day.
There is a popular myth that most people, including women nurture that they are immune to heart diseases and heart attacks. The irony is no one tries to question this belief and get to the core of the problems. No the hormone oestrogen doesn’t protect women from a sudden heart attack and both men and women are prone to heart disease alike. Thanks to the survey ‘Visualising the Extent of Heart Disease in Indian Women,’ to shed some like and busting the popular myth about women’s heart health. Read women’s day special: Give yourself a break superwomen.
What did the survey reveal?
The survey showed that changing lifestyle has exposed women to the risk of cardiovascular diseases; shattering the popular belief that oestrogen hormone protects them from such ailments. It also revealed that 65 per cent doctors believe that oestrogen’s deficiency due to changing lifestyle and other co-morbid conditions are among the top five reasons responsible for younger women developing cardiovascular diseases. Here are some heart diseases prevention tips for women.
According to the survey, 55 per cent of cardiologists observed 16-20 per cent growth in cardiovascular diseases among women in the last five years, while 41 per cent of the doctors claimed 10-15 per cent growth in such diseases among women in the age group of 20-40 years – the category which was earlier considered protected from heart ailments. Here are five reasons why women are more prone to heart diseases.
Should women be worried about their heart health?
‘Quite contrary to conventional medical ideology that due to oestrogen hormone women, especially menstruating ones, are safe from heart diseases, lately, there has been a significant rise in number of female cardiovascular patients,’ said JPS Sawhney, senior cardiologist at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. ‘The trend may be attributed to changing lifestyle, which is bringing such drastic hormonal changes that the heart protecting effect of oestrogen is getting nullified,’ Sawhney added. Beware women! Emotional stress can increase your chances of heart attack.
What makes women prone to heart diseases?
The survey showed that due to changes in lifestyle, not only have the risk factors for the cardiovascular diseases like stress, smoking and drinking increased considerably, but co-morbid conditions like obesity, hypertension and diabetes have also gone up. But despite the threat, 83 per cent of the doctors believed that Indian women are ignorant about heart diseases, while 76 per cent observed that women die of heart diseases as they do not seek medical assistance in time for their condition. However, 66 per cent of doctors agreed that cardiovascular disease-related deaths among women are due to late diagnosis. Here are eight common heart diseases symptoms and warning signs.
Why women should be more vigilant about their heart health?
‘Women often overlook symptoms and discomfort pertaining to heart diseases, and rarely consult an expert. Even if they opt for consultation, more often than not, they discontinue the treatment as soon as they get symptomatic relief. The compliance rate is comparatively poor among women,’ Sawhney said. The survey also revealed a striking contrast between working and non-working women in terms of awareness and risk factors. While 81 per cent of the doctors believed that working women are more conscious about their heart health, majority of the doctors still noted that heart diseases are on the rise in working women.
‘Considering the fact that working women juggle home and work responsibilities, they are more likely to get exposed to stress and unhealthy lifestyle and, therefore, may be more prone to cardiovascular diseases as compared to non-working women,’ said Chandrakant S Pandav, head of the department, Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). ‘Nevertheless, due to huge burden of household responsibilities and lack of self-care, non-working women cannot be considered to be at lesser risk,’ he added.
What did the survey conclude about women’s heart health?
The survey covered about 600 cardiologists and general practitioners from both metro and non-metro cities and was based on subjective and objective questions. ‘In India, more than 400 million people have stress, which is one of the major reasons of all health problems, and change in lifestyles is a major reason causing cardio-vascular diseases,’ Pandav said.
‘Cardio-vascular diseases in women in India, where a large percentage of the population is diabetic, are likely to increase by 17 per cent in the coming 10 years,’ Kapil Yadav of the Centre for Community Medicine, AIIMS said.
With inputs from IANS.
Image source: Getty Images
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