4 things you should know about women’s heart health

MI occurs in a woman in the United States every 90 seconds, according to the CDC. The good news is that data from the American Heart Association and the CDC Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics suggest there has been a 30% decline in mortality related in CVD in 2014 compared with a decade ago. The bad news is that CVD remains underdetected in women and outcomes are worse for women compared with men.

Cardiology Today presents four things should know about women’s heart health based on recent study results and expert interviews.

1. CVD in women is not the same as CVD in men.

CVD prevention strategies for women may need to differ from those recommended for men. While strategies to better identify CVD risk factors and further improve upon management and outcomes in women are underway, advancements have already been made for women with CVD. Efforts are being made to close the gender gap, including better understanding of the risk factors unique to or more prevalent in women, better understanding of how atherosclerosis develops and manifests itself in women, and paying more attention to imaging results that may not indicate classic symptoms of CAD but may signal a problem that needs to be treated. Read more

2. Complication rates are low for pregnant women with congenital heart disease.

In a study of more than 2.7 million women with vaginal or cesarean deliveries from 2005 to 2001 (n=3,218 with noncomplex congenital heart disease; n=248 with complex congenital heart disease), 47% of women with complex congenital heart disease had cesarean delivery. Up to 30 days postpartum, 4% of women with congenital heart disease were readmitted to the hospital compared with 1% of women without congenital heart disease. Maternal in-hospital mortality was not significantly higher in women with complex congenital heart disease. Incident congestive HF, sustained ventricular tachycardia and inpatient cardiac arrest were uncommon in all pregnant women with congenital heart disease in the study. Read more

3. There is no clear association between calcium channel blockers and breast cancer risk.

In a study of women with no history of breast cancer, general patients prescribed calcium channel blockers had a higher risk for breast cancer compared with women who were not prescribed calcium channel blockers. In contrast, researchers observed a reverse relationship between risk for breast cancer and calcium channel blocker use among women who underwent coronary angiography. Read more

4. Myocardial ischemia with mental stress most common in young and middle-aged women with CHD.

According to data presented at the AHA Scientific Sessions, women aged 55 years and younger with stable CHD under mental stress were more likely to develop myocardial ischemia than men of the same age. After a mental stress test, women had greater ischemic perfusion compared with men. But after a physical stress test, there was no difference in myocardial ischemia between men and women. The researchers noted that the trend persisted even after adjusting for sociodemographic and CHD risk factors, psychosocial risk factors and medications. Read more