Yesterday the American Heart Association released new guidelines for preventing heart disease in women. As reported by WebMD, the update recategorizes a woman’s risk for heart disease (women with certain pregnancy complications are now considered at risk for heart attack or stroke) and provides "gender-specific prevention advice on diet and daily aspirin therapy" in high-risk female patients.
In a timely Q&A, Jennifer Tremmel, MD, clinical director of Women’s Heart Health at Stanford, provides further information on women's heart disease and offers tips on how patients can protect themselves. She also reminds us why this is such an important issue for women:
We have this image [of an older man clutching his chest and dropping to the ground] because more men die of coronary heart disease than women. However, ultimately more women die of all forms of cardiovascular disease than men. One out of every four women will die of coronary artery disease (one out of two will die of cardiovascular disease). If you want to know what heart disease looks like, look at 25% of the women you know.
Previously: Gap exists in women's knowledge of heart disease
Photo by snarky_momma
