Battling for women’s hearts and minds in the fight against Union’s number-one killer

Date: 02/10/03

By Karen Carstens

Despite male protestations of increased stress levels, it is women who are more likely to die from heart disease.

WOMEN are used to hearing men whinge that they have to work harder to support women's 'lifestyles' and are thus far more likely to die earlier from a heart attack.

While men may be at a higher risk for coronary disease in early to mid-life, the tables are turned once women hit old age, with their risk of heart attack increasing dramatically after menopause.

Altogether, some 2.4 million women in Europe die from cardiovascular diseases each year, compared to 1.95 million men.

David Byrne, the health and consumer protection commissioner, highlighted this stark statistic in a speech on Sunday (28 September) to mark World Heart Day, an initiative of the Geneva-based World Heart Federation.

“The sad truth is that, for women, heart disease is the number-one killer,” he said.

Indeed, more than eight million women worldwide die from heart disease or stroke.

“This is almost eighteen times higher than from breast cancer and six times more than HIV/Aids related deaths,” the Heart Federation said. “In developing countries, half of all deaths of women over 50 are due to heart disease and stroke.”

One factor for this, according to the European Heart Network, is that women are only half as likely as men to undergo cardiac testing for symptoms suggesting heart problems.

Yet according to new findings from a survey carried out for the Heart Federation among 820 primary care physicians in 11 countries in August, nearly six in ten doctors believe men are more likely to die from a stroke: in fact, more women die from stroke (11%) than men (8.5%).

Women receive less medical attention as a result. A smaller number of women than men with chronic heart disease, for example, are treated with angioplasty and coronary artery bypass surgery.

“It's time for every woman to take charge of her health and to stop underestimating the risks,” said Philip Poole-Wilson, director of the cardiac medicine department at the National Heart and Lung Institute at the London-based Imperial College and current World Heart Federation president.

“More than half of female deaths and disability from heart disease and stroke could be cut through a combination of simple, cost-effective national efforts by women themselves to reduce major risk factors such as smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and obesity.”

Smoking more than doubles women's risk of developing heart disease, as does physical inactivity - sitting still could kill you. And the Pill puts female smokers at even greater risk - women who take oral contraceptives and smoke up to 15 cigarettes per day are five times more likely to develop heart disease, while for those who smoke more than 15 cigarettes a day the risk is 20 times greater.

Moreover, non-smokers of either gender who regularly breathe second-hand smoke have a 25% increased risk of developing both lung cancer and heart disease and an 80% increased risk of suffering a stroke.

Despite male protestations of increased stress levels, it is women who are more likely to die from heart disease.