TIME TO TALK ABOUT WOMEN’S HEARTS
Did you know that an estimated 1.2 million Australians are living with some form of cardiac, stroke or vascular disease.
And that tragically, one woman loses their life every hour to heart disease – a disease which is 80 per cent preventable?
Ischaemic Heart Disease (IHD) represented the second leading cause of death in Australian women during 2017, alongside heart failure and arrhythmias, which caused four-times more deaths than breast cancer. In fact, women are more likely to die from cardiac arrhythmias than men.
These statistics mount a compelling argument for protecting women’s heart health.
Her Heart Foundation is changing the way we talk about women’s heart health. The organisation provides information about how heart diseases affect women in different ways, depending on which disease they have, as well as their symptoms.
Heart disease risk factors are categorised as either preventable or inherited.
Preventable risk factors for heart disease include hypertension, smoking, diabetes or high cholesterol, and lifestyle choices. These factors are modifiable, noting lifestyle changes can help to reduce the risk of developing a heart condition.
Inherited risk factors include age, family history, gender, and ethnicity. These non-modifiable factors cannot be adapted with lifestyle changes, but are nonetheless, important to consider.
In addition, female-specific risk factors for heart disease include pre-term pregnancies, hypertension disorders associated with pregnancy, gestational diabetes, and radiation therapy.
Researchers recommend daily management for those living with heart diseases, followed by a Secondary Prevention Programme, if required, to reduce the chance of hospitalisation, associated complications, and to increase survival rates.
Cardiac rehabilitation is also recommended for women living with heart diseases, to aid recovery, to improve heart health knowledge, and to reduce the risk of experiencing further problems.
To read more about what the Her Heart Foundation does, please see the link below.