At The Heart Of Women’s Health

A woman’s heart is a particular thing

For the longest time (and still to a large degree now), “women’s health” is assumed to refer to the health of organs found under a bikini. But there’s a lot more to it than that. We are whole people, with such things as brains and hearts and more.

Today (Valentine’s Day!) we’re focusing on the heart.

A quick recap:

We’ve talked previously about some of these sex differences when it comes to the heart, for example:

Heart Attack: His & Hers (Be Prepared!)

…but that’s fairly common knowledge at least amongst those who are attentive to such things, whereas…

Statins: His & Hers?

…is much less common knowledge, especially with the ways statins are more likely to make things worse for a lot of women (not all though; see the article for some nuance about that).

We also talked about:

What Menopause Does To The Heart

…which is well worth reading too!

A question:

Why are women twice as likely to die from a heart attack as their age-equivalent male peers? Women develop heart disease later, but die from it sooner. Why is that?

That’s been a question scientists have been asking (and tentatively answering, as scientists do—hypotheses, theories, conclusions even sometimes) for 20 years now. Likely contributing factors include:

• A lack of public knowledge of the different symptoms
• A lack of confidence of bystanders to perform CPR on a woman
• A lack of public knowledge (including amongst prescribers) about the sex-related differences for statins
• A lack of women in cardiology, comparatively.
• A lack of attention to it, simply. Men get heart disease earlier, so it’s thought of as a “man thing”, by health providers as much as by individuals. Men get more regular cardiovascular check-ups, women get a mammogram and go.

Statistically, women are much more likely to die from heart disease than breast cancer:

• Breast cancer kills around 0.02% of us.
• Heart disease kills one in three.

And yet…

❝In a nationwide survey, only 22% of primary care doctors and 42% of cardiologists said they feel extremely well prepared to assess cardiovascular risks in women.

We are lagging in implementing risk prevention guidelines for women.

A lot of women are being told to just watch their cholesterol levels and see their doctor in a year. That’s a year of delayed care.❞

~ Dr. Gina Lundberg

Source: The slowly evolving truth about heart disease and women

(there’s a lot more in that article than we have room for in ours, so do check it out!)

Some good news:

The “bystanders less likely to feel confident performing CPR on a woman” aspect may be helped by the deployment of new automatic external defibrillator, that works from four sides instead of one.

It’s called “double sequential external defibrillation”, and you can learn about it here:

A new emergency procedure for cardiac arrests aims to save more lives—here’s how it works

(it’s in use already in Canada and Aotearoa)

Gentlemen-readers, thank you for your attention to this one even if it was mostly not about you! Maybe someone you love will benefit from being aware of this

On a lighter note…

Since it’s Valentine’s Day, a little more on affairs of the heart…

Is chocolate good for the heart? And is it really an aphrodisiac?

We answered these questions and more in our previous main feature:

Chocolate & Health: Fact or Fiction?

Enjoy!