Article – Fast pace of life contributes to increased deaths from heart disease among women

It’s women’s month. Despite the many achievements in the professional aspect and the search for equal treatment, the pace of women’s modern life has contributed greatly to deaths from heart disease among women. This increases the likelihood of a woman dying from a heart attack by 50% compared to a man.

According to the WHO – World Health Organization – cardiovascular diseases are responsible for 1/3 of all deaths among women in the world, equivalent to around 8.5 million deaths per year, more than 23 thousand per day.

And what’s worse is that, unlike men, women don’t always notice the signs that something is wrong. One of the main warning signs is cholesterol. The good one, HDL, must be above 50 mg/dl. The bad one, LDL, is below 100 mg/dl and blood pressure should not exceed 12 over 8.

One of the explanations refers to the smaller caliber of women’s arteries, atheromatous plaques tend to close their arteries more than men’s, which makes the obstruction more severe, making them more prone to arterial occlusions.

Estrogen has a vasodilatory function, preventing the accumulation of LDL, bad cholesterol, and facilitating HDL, good cholesterol. However, during menopause, a period in which women are older and more prone to cardiovascular problems, estrogen shows a progressive drop and this effect decreases.

The increased incidence of cardiovascular events in women is a consequence of natural aging and lifestyle. In addition to these signs, other conditions neglected by women turn them into potential victims, such as the growth of obesity, uncontrolled diabetes and cholesterol levels, smoking, sedentary lifestyle, everyday stress and high blood pressure resulting from the journey. Modern women’s triple increased stress and anxiety – factors that also make them more susceptible to heart problems.

Among Brazilian women, 1 in 5 adult women is at risk of developing cardiovascular diseases; Heart attacks in women are more fatal than in men.

Most people are unaware that cardiovascular diseases are the biggest cause of death among women, with 8 million deaths per year. Eight times the number of deaths from breast cancer and due to lack of knowledge, few women visit the cardiologist regularly.
Even the symptoms of a heart attack in women are unknown.

In men there is severe pain in the chest that radiates to the arms. In women, the symptoms of a heart attack are: nausea, weakness, gastric pain and shortness of breath, which is very confusing with other diseases and you end up not even going to the doctor and when you go there is no way to reverse the condition.

So what to do? See a cardiologist, get tested and see how your heart is doing. And remember, no woman dies of love, but of a heart attack.

Max Lima He is a doctor specializing in cardiology and intensive care, advisor to the CFM, former president of the Brazilian Society of Cardiology of Mato Grosso (SBCMT), Cardiologist at the Heart Team Ecardio at Amecor Hospital and Clínica Vida Diagnóstico e Saúde. CRMT 6194.