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Women's Health Issues in the News: Cardiovascular Disease

Glad to see more attention paid to women's health issues in the news.
This report highlights how women are more susceptible to stroke than men.
    It seems women over 55 need to worry more about having a stroke than their male counterparts do.

    They have a one-in-five chance of suffering a stroke during their lifetime, while the odds are one-in-six for men in the same age group, a new analysis shows.

    It's the first time researchers have quantified the lifetime risk of stroke among men and women in the United States.

    "It gives you an idea of the magnitude of the problem," says study author Dr. Sudha Seshadri, an assistant professor of neurology at the Boston University School of Medicine. "We did not know that before for stroke, surprising as that may seem."

Heart disease in women is yet another topic that requires more attention.
    The bad news is that heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women nationwide and in Utah claims more lives than the next four causes of death combined. The good news, the AHA says, is that women can take steps to prevent heart disease.
    Historically, heart disease was thought of mostly as a man's disease because men suffer complications from it at an earlier age, whereas women typically have problems after menopause.
    Doctors and researchers have surmised that heart disease afflicts women later in life because of the protective nature of the female hormones estrogen and progesterone, said Jeffrey Anderson, associate chief of cardiology at LDS Hospital and a professor at the University of Utah Medical School.
    "After menopause, cholesterol and blood pressure tend to go up," Anderson said.
    "The hope was that hormone replacement therapy would prevent heart disease. But, if anything, it increased the risk slightly."
    Because women generally have heart attacks later in life, they are more likely than men to die from them. After the first heart attack, studies show 38 percent of women die within a year compared with 25 percent of men.
    To help prevent heart disease, the AHA recommends women get their blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar tested, eat a healthy diet, exercise regularly and not smoke.
    They should also know the heart attack warning signs: pressure in the chest; discomfort in the upper body, including the jaw, arms, back, neck or stomach; shortness of breath; cold sweats; and nausea or light-headedness.
    Not all heart attacks are sudden and intense, but most start slowly with mild pain and discomfort.

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