Poses Great Risks in Women
This week's medical alert news hasn't been good for women. Heart disease in women is apparently seriously underdiagnosed, mostly due to a host of misconceptions regarding how we view the disease. This is also why heart attacks are more often fatal when suffered by women, something many people weren't aware of.
Some means of controlling this problem include choosing healthy lifestyle habits, and attending yearly checkups with doctors, but with a lack of
affordable health insurance in America today that's easier said than done. Heart disease is the number one killer in America, and most of the time it's entirely preventable, but only so long as the person in question has access to medical coverage.
The statistics unveiled regarding women and heart disease are alarming: while 75% of men survive a first heart attack, only 62% of women do the same. And, heart disease in America kills more women than
all cancers combined. Yes that's correct - heart disease kills more women in this country than breast cancer, lung cancer, ovarian cancer, or any cancer for that matter.
Simply put, it's the biggest threat to women's health in this country today.
So, how can it be that women are so often misdiagnosed in terms of heart disease? It appears that heart disease itself acts differently, and even more aggressively, than it does in men; and since heart disease is rarely ever studied in women alone, it's hard to come by definitive data. Finally, while heart attacks in men are culturally perceived to be a threat, most people think that for women cancer is a bigger threat, which really isn't true.
Facts on:
Heart Disease
Did you know...
Only 62% of women survive a first heart attack?
|
Women who fear that their lives are in danger to heart disease can rely on healthy lifestyle changes to help, including maintaining a healthy weight, lowering or keeping low cholesterol, lowering and keeping low blood pressure, exercising, and eating a healthy diet. But, many of the women who need health care right now aren't going to get it, because they don't have access to
health insurance. Yet again here is a reason why heart disease in women is so dangerous - even when we know it's life-threatening, we can't always afford for women to treat it.
Those women who do have health insurance, medicare, medicaid, or have access to a health clinic are urged to go in for their screenings to see if they are at risk for heart disease. An estimated 7.2 million women today have heart disease, and with preventative care they can control the disease and minimize the likelihood that they'll suffer a heart attack or stroke.
Current Topic:
Recent Topics:
