Sunday, January 27, 2008

Women And Heart Disease

Some Points Worth Knowing With Regard To Women And Heart Disease

It seems that over the past few years the incidences of women with heart disease have begun to shoot up alarmingly, and the perception that heart disease is more of a man’s problem than a woman’s is slowly changing, and even though the manifestation of women and heart disease will not quite be the same as for men, there is still no denying the fact that in the case of women too the problem is just as serious as for men.

Half A Million Women Die Of Heart Disease Each Year

According to the latest figures available regarding women and heart disease, it has been found that as many as, it is believed, five hundred thousand or so women die from heart disease each year and furthermore, cardiovascular failure accounts for more than as many as six other types of causes for death in women – all taken together. What’s worse is that these same figures show that as many as eight million women are living with heart disease of some kind or the other.

Thus, it is easy to understand that women and heart disease is a growing problem that needs to be tackled very seriously and among the likely causes for women and heart disease being closely associated to one another are their having high blood pressure conditions, being obese or diabetic and also because of smoking. In addition, women of African American descent are twice as prone to suffer from heart disease as white Caucasian women and even Pacific Islanders as well as Latinos and even American Indian women are more prone to suffer from heart disease as compared to their white counterparts.

What’s more, according to the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, menopause has an adverse effect with regard to women and heart disease and following menopause, women will undergo certain changes in their cholesterol levels, suffer from reduced production of estrogen as well as changed structure of their blood vessels which can put them at greater risk of suffering from heart disease.

Till quite recently, whatever studies that were conducted with regard to women and heart disease had hypothesized that through hormone replacement therapy women could be helped during their post-menopausal phase and thus they would be able to fight off heart disease; though, this does not hold good according to latest findings. In fact, according to scientists studying women and heart disease, it is much better for their health if they were to control their lifestyle and abstain from smoking, becoming obese or overweight and eat junk food which is closely related to heart disease.

Thus, for women to overcome the risk of developing heart disease they need to ensure living a balanced life minus bad habits such as smoking, consuming a lot of alcohol and eating unhealthy foods. If they follow these simple guidelines there is every reason to believe that women can avoid becoming the next number in the growing statistics related to women and heart disease.

When Was Heart Disease Discovered

Information on When Was Heart Disease Discovered

Heart disease is really an umbrella term, one which includes a number of different heart related conditions. Especially if your family has a history of heart disease or you have dealt with heart problems in the past, you should make yourself educated on the issue of heart disease, including on when was heart disease discovered.

When Was Heart Disease Discovered?

When it comes to answering the question of when was heart disease discovered, there are actually a few different things that need to be discussed. Before 1900 there were actually very few people who died from heart disease, and this is even more reason why people in general should be more informed on the question of when was heart disease discovered.

One of the main reasons that heart disease became such a common problem is because of the serious change in diet. Machines were built to homogenize milk, process cheese, churn butter, and make ice cream, and now that these foods were no longer made by hand they were much easier to get and therefore people began eating more of them.

Then there is also the significant technological advances that came about, and because computers were basically able to do everything, people did not have to go out as much and physically work to do the tasks as they once had to.

The combination of a sedentary lifestyle and a rich diet ultimately led to people becoming overweight, and as well an increase in clogged blood vessels, heart attacks and strokes.

Today the causes of heart disease are actually unknown, but there are many effective methods of treatment that are available. First a proper assessment and diagnosis must be made, and after this the attending physician will determine what the best treatment method is going to be.

Exercise stress tests are used to measure symptoms, blood pressure and EKG during exercise, all which will help to keep an eye on one’s condition. There are also imaging procedures which may be used and which provide still or moving pictures through x-ray or CT scans. Surgical procedures are a more serious option here, and help by bypassing clogged arteries, replacing valves, and inserting pacemakers.

It is important for any heart disease sufferer to understand about the question of when was heart disease discovered, and to work together with their doctor if they do develop heart disease in order to have an eye kept on their condition and so the doctor can make sure that they are making proper progress.