It's women's month. Despite many achievements in the professional aspect and the search for equal treatment, the pace of modern women's life has contributed significantly to deaths from heart disease among women. This increases the probability of a woman dying from a heart attack by 50% compared to a man.
According to the World Health Organization – the World Health Organization – cardiovascular diseases are responsible for a third of all deaths among women in the world, equivalent to about 8.5 million deaths annually, or more than 23 thousand per day.
What's worse is that women, unlike men, don't always notice the signs that something is wrong. One of the main warning signs is cholesterol. The good type, HDL, should be higher than 50 mg/dL. The bad level, which is LDL, is less than 100 mg/dL and blood pressure should not exceed 12 out of 8.
One explanation points to the smaller caliber of women's arteries: atheromatous plaque tends to block their arteries more than men, making the blockage more severe, making them more susceptible to clogged arteries.
Estrogen has the function of dilating blood vessels, preventing the accumulation of LDL, the bad cholesterol, and facilitating HDL, the good cholesterol. But during menopause, a period when women are older and more vulnerable to cardiovascular problems, estrogen shows a gradual decline and this effect diminishes.
The increased incidence of cardiovascular disease in women is a result of normal aging and lifestyle. In addition to these signs, other conditions that women neglect turn them into potential victims, such as the development of obesity, uncontrolled sugar and cholesterol levels, smoking, a sedentary lifestyle, daily stress and high blood pressure resulting from the trip. Stress and anxiety – factors that also make them more vulnerable to heart problems.
Among Brazilian women, one in five adult women is at risk of developing cardiovascular disease; Heart attacks in women are more fatal than in men.
Most people don't realize that cardiovascular disease is the largest cause of death among women, accounting for 8 million deaths annually. Eight times as many deaths as breast cancer, and due to lack of knowledge, fewer women visit a cardiologist regularly.
Even the symptoms of a heart attack in women are unknown.
In men, there is severe pain in the chest that extends to the arms. Symptoms of a heart attack in women are: nausea, weakness, stomach 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 do there is no way to reverse the course of the crisis. condition.
So what to do? Visit a cardiologist and get tested and see how your heart is doing. Remember, no woman dies from love, but from a heart attack.
Max Lima He is a specialist in Cardiology and Intensive Care, CFM Consultant, Past President of the Brazilian Society of Cardiology of Mato Grosso (SBCMT), and Cardiologist of the Ecardio Cardiac Team at Amecor Hospital and Clínica Vida Diagnóstico e Saúde CRMT 6194.
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