Cardiology

Women & CVD

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Cardiovascular disease (CVD) heart disease and stroke is the biggest killer of women globally, killing more women than all cancers, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria combined. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States, killing 292,188 women in 2009 that’s 1 in every 4 female deaths. While some women have no symptoms, others experience angina (dull, heavy to sharp chest pain or discomfort), pain in the neck/jaw/throat or pain in the upper abdomen or back. These may occur during rest, begin during physical activity, or be triggered by mental stress. Sometimes heart disease may be silent and not diagnosed until a woman experiences signs or symptoms of a heart attack, heart failure, an arrhythmia or stroke. Women with diabetes have higher CVD mortality rates than men with diabetes. Women who engage in physical activity for less than an hour per week have 1.48 times the risk of developing coronary heart disease, compared to women who do more than three hours of physical activity per week. Go Red for Women is a major international awareness campaign dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis and control of heart disease and stroke in women.