Poses Great Risks in Women
The medical world gave us bad news this week, as heart disease in women is found to be underdiagnosed due to a host of problems in the way we view the disease. This also explains why heart attacks in women are more often fatal, a fact that few people are aware of.
Healthy lifestyle habits, combined with regular checkups, could help to control this problem, but with the general lack of
affordable health insurance today it's easier said than done. Heart disease is the number 1 killer in America, and more often than not, entirely preventable so long as the individual in question has access to medical care.
The statistics regarding women are alarming: 75% of men survive a first heart attack, while only 62% of women do the same. And, heart disease in women kills more than
all cancers combined. That is correct - heart disease kills more women than breast cancer, than lung cancer, than ovarian cancer, or any cancer for that matter.
It is the biggest threat to womens health in this country.
So, how is it that women are so often underdiagnosed? The disease itself seems to act differently, and perhaps more aggressively, than it does with men; which is a little understood phenomenon since heart disease is rarely ever studied in women alone. Worse, while heart attacks in men are perceived to be a threat by the overall public, most people think that cancer is the bigger threat to women, which isn't really true.
Facts on:
Heart Disease
Did you know...
Only 62% of women survive a first heart attack?
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Healthy lifestyle changes can help women who fear that they're at risk for a heart attack, including maintaining a healthy weight, low cholesterol, low blood pressure, exercise and eating a healthy diet. But, many women who need care right now aren't going to get it because they don't have
health insurance. Here again is another reason why heart disease in women is such a problem - even when we know it's a danger, we can't always afford for women to treat it.
Women who do have health insurance, medicare, medicaid, or access to a clinic are urged to go in for a screening to see if they are at risk for heart disease. An estimated 7,200,000 women living today have heart disease, and with preventative care they can protect themselves from heart attack and stroke.
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