The following cardiovascular belief holds true in one respect: men are far more likely to experience a heart attack than women are. However, a new reality is becoming apparent — and it seems to be far more significant than the original discrepancy between heart health and the sexes.
Angina is a kind of heart disease — it is much more common than heart attack — and a new study has found that females are equally at risk as men are for this dangerous condition. For women, it is way more dangerous than was previously assumed.
Angina is a form of chest pain. It is also a form of heart disease, which goes way beyond simple discomfort. Fatty deposits in your arteries, which temporarily narrow them and restrict blood flow to the heart, cause the pain involved in angina.
Often triggered by physical exertion or high stress levels, angina presents as a pressure or tightness in the chest. In a few minutes after the stressful activity has stopped, the pain dissipates. But the threat of the disease stays the same — angina puts your critical arteries at risk every day.
Published in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association, the new study presents evidence that doctors should be paying more attention to investigating women who have symptoms of angina — because it is more common than once thought.
In 100,000 patients between 45 and 89 years of age, researchers found that every year two percent of women in our society develop angina. And they found standard tests such as angiograms or electrocardiograms are not able to diagnose angina in women as well as they can in men.
What does angina mean to us? In the study, women who had angina faced an increased risk of death due to heart disease. For women who had both diabetes and angina, their risk of having a heart attack rose to nearly the same levels as for men. The researchers pointed out that the medical world needs to understand why it is that women have relative protection against heart attacks, but not for angina.
You can help your heart by cutting down on the infamous risk factors for any cardiovascular problem. Smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and obesity are all serious triggers for angina, and all can at least be reduced, if not conquered. Exercising daily and maintaining a healthy diet are both simple ways to keep your arteries healthy and angina-free.
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Tags: blood pressure, Cholesterol, obesity
