 |
Hormone
Replacement Therapy is Not For Women Heart Patients
Taking
hormones after menopause does not protect women heart patients against
heart attacks or stroke. In fact, it increases their risk of
dangerous blood clots in the legs and lungs. These conclusions
are the latest finding of the Heart
and Estrogen/Progestin Replacement Study (HERS II). The
researchers fund that, for now, no woman, regardless of age, should
take Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) primarily to lower her risk of
a heart attack. The study challenges long-held beliefs that HRT
prevents heart disease and heart attacks in women.
The
National Institutes of Health (NIH) abruptly halted its massive
research study of HRT use in healthy women because it found
significant increases in the rates of heart attack, stroke, lung
clots, and breast cancer. The study, the
Women's Health Initiative, found these risks increased after four
years of HRT use. However, short-term use of HRT to treat severe
menopausal sysmptoms, such as hot flashes, night sweats, and vaginal
dryness, is the most common reason women use HRT.
Just
the Facts: Women and Heart Disease
Prevalence
 |
8,000
American women are currently living with heart disease -- 10% of
women aged 45 to 64 and 25% over age 65. |
|
6,100,000
women are alive today who have a history of heart attack and/or
angina or both. Nearly 13% of women aged 45 and over have
had a heart attack. |
|
440,000
American women each year have heart attacks; 74,000 are under
age 65 and 9,000 under 45. |
|
Nearly
250,000 women survive heart attacks each year, and these numbers
are increasing. The number or women dying of heart attacks
decreased 34% from 1987 to 1996. |
|
Nearly
4,000,000 women suffer from angina, and 50,000 of them were
hospitalized in 1996. |
|
Coronary
heart disease (heart attack and angina) is the leading cause of
premature and permanent disability in the U.S. labor force (both
men and women) and represents 19% of disability allowances
granted by the Social Security Administration. |
Mortality
|
Nearly
half (44%) of all American women die of cardiovascular disease
(heart disease and stroke. |
|
Heart
attack is a leading killer of American women, proving fatal each
year for over five times as many women as breast cancer. |
|
230,000
women die of heart attacks each year, and nearly 20,000 of these
women are under age 65. |
Who
is at Risk
|
Risk
factors for women and heart disease include: a family
history of heart disease, diabetes, smoking, obesity, high blood
pressure, elevated cholesterol, lack of physical exercise,
post-menopausal age, and African American heritage. |
|
The
age-adjusted rate of heart disease among African American women
is 72% higher than that for white women. African American
women aged 55-65 are twice as likely as white women of the same
age group to have a heart attack, and they are 35% more likely
to suffer from coronary heart disease, which causes heart
attacks. |
|
70%
of African American women and 60% of white women have high blood
pressure, while 51% of African American women and 53% of white
women have high cholesterol (200mg/dL or higher). |
|
Women
who have smoked and/or taken birth control pills are far more
likely to have heart attacks than women who do neither.
Smokers risk having a heart attack 19 years earlier than
nonsmokers. |
|
Women
with diabetes are two to three times more likely to have heart
attacks. |
|
Older
women have the highest rates of heart attack due to their higher
rates of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes,
obesity, and physical inactivity. |
Compared
with Men
|
Within
six years of a recognized heart attack, 30% of women and 21% of
men will be disabled by heart failure. |
|
Women
have heart disease and heart attacks later in life than men, and
rates for women increase substantially following menopause. |
|
A
first heart attack will more likely kill a woman than a man, and
42% of women who have heart attacks die within a year compared
to 24% of men. |
|
Women
are more likely than men to have a second heart attack.
Six years after a heart attack, 33% of women and 21% of men will
have had another heart attack. |
|
Women
are almost twice as likely to die following heart bypass surgery
than men. |
These
statistics are from CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, the
American Heart Association, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood
Institute. For more information on women and heart health, check
out www.womenheart.org.
Heart
Attack Symptoms for Women
The
classic symptoms of a heart attack are a feeling of intense pressure
or fullness, or a squeezing or crushing pain in the middle of the
chest. But a heart attack can produce different, less-familiar
symptoms in some women. Learn these atypical symptoms and call
for help if you experience them:
- Burning
sensation or discomfort in the upper abdomen
- Difficulty
in breathing
- Nausea
and vomiting
- Weakness
or fatigue
- Profuse
sweating
- Light-headedness
- Fainting
Prompt
treatment is critically important and ideally should be started within
the first hour after symptom onset.
Women
and Smoking -- A Report of the Surgeon General - 2001
This
year alone, lung cancer will kill nearly 68,000 U.S. women. That's
one in every four cancer deaths among women, and about 27,000 more
deaths than from breast cancer (41,000). Women and
Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General makes its overarching
theme clear--smoking is a woman's issue. This report summarizes
what is now known about smoking among women, including patterns and
trends in smoking habits, factors associated with starting to smoke and
continuing to smoke, the consequences of smoking on women's health and
interventions for cessation and prevention. What the report also
makes apparent is how the tobacco industry has historically and
contemporarily created marketing specifically targeted at women.
To
obtain a copy of Women and Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon
General full report or executive summary or for copies of At A
Glance, please call CDC's Office on Smoking and Health at
770-488-5705 and press 3 to speak with an information specialist.
These reports, along with supporting documents, are also available
on-line at the Office on Smoking and Health web site at www.cdc.gov/tobacco.
Women
and Heart Disease: An Atlas of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in
Mortality (Second Edition)
This new edition includes a number of updates and corrections
to the original text and maps. This book should be an excellent
resource for organizations and individuals working to reduce the
burden of heart disease among women and eliminate the geographic,
racial, and ethnic disparities that currently exist.
To order a single copy (free of charge) go to the CDC's website and
fill out the provided order form http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/cvd/womensatlas/atlas-order.htm or
send an e-mail to ccdinfo@cdc.gov
Sports
and Physical Activity
Sports and physical activity are positive, viable alternatives
to smoking in the lives of young women. They can give adolescent
women the very benefits they perceive in smoking: independence,
status with their peers, a chance to make friends, relaxation, weight
management, and a more positive sense of self. (Edwards P.,
Evening the odds: Adolescent women, tobacco and physical
activity. Ottawa: Canadian Association for the Advancement
of Women and Sports and Physical Activity, 1995.)
Women's
Perceived and Real Health Risks
| PERCEPTION
PERCENT |
CAUSE OF
DEATH
PERCENT |
| Breast
cancer
46 |
Heart
disease
34 |
| Unspecified
cancer
16 |
Other
cancer
12 |
| Heart
disease
4 |
Stroke
8 |
| AIDS
4 |
Lung
cancer
5 |
| Uterine/Ovarian
cancer
3 |
Breast
cancer
4 |
Source: Vital Statistics of the U.S.,
National Center for Health Statistics |
