Women and Heart Disease
By: Elizabeth Harness
Updated: June 9, 2009
"I think the biggest thing is making women aware of risk factors. We are making progress with that," said Dr. Patricia Fitzpatrick with the Rochester Cardiopulmonary Group.
There's still a long way to go when it comes to educating women about heart disease. It continues to be the #1 killer of American women.
A heart attack can present differently than in a man.
"With shortness of breath, easy fatigue, discomfort with emotional stress. Even nausea and vomiting will present more often in the setting of a heart attack, and that's more common in women also," said Dr. Fitzpatrick. "High blood pressure is common in women just as it is in men. Diabetes is an extremely important risk factor in women."
Blood pressure and cholesterol aret wo things you want to monitor, but they're not things you should be thinking about as you get older, you should be thinking about them as young as in your 20's.
"The problem with most women, when they're not children anymore and before they become menopausal, they're spending time taking care of other people and not themselves," said Dr. Fitzpatrick.
Maintaining a good weight is important, however, exercise is key. You don't have to go all out to keep your heart in shape.
"The goal is 30 minutes everyday of some kind of aerobic exercise, so walking counts, you don't have to go join a gym, vacuuming counts, mopping floors counts," said Dr. Fitzpatrick.
There's still a long way to go when it comes to educating women about heart disease. It continues to be the #1 killer of American women.
A heart attack can present differently than in a man.
"With shortness of breath, easy fatigue, discomfort with emotional stress. Even nausea and vomiting will present more often in the setting of a heart attack, and that's more common in women also," said Dr. Fitzpatrick. "High blood pressure is common in women just as it is in men. Diabetes is an extremely important risk factor in women."
Blood pressure and cholesterol aret wo things you want to monitor, but they're not things you should be thinking about as you get older, you should be thinking about them as young as in your 20's.
"The problem with most women, when they're not children anymore and before they become menopausal, they're spending time taking care of other people and not themselves," said Dr. Fitzpatrick.
Maintaining a good weight is important, however, exercise is key. You don't have to go all out to keep your heart in shape.
"The goal is 30 minutes everyday of some kind of aerobic exercise, so walking counts, you don't have to go join a gym, vacuuming counts, mopping floors counts," said Dr. Fitzpatrick.
