Cardiovascular Disease Symptoms
and Risk Factors

Cardiovascular Disease in Women: Risk Factors and Prevention Section 6

It has been suggested that naturally occurring estrogen levels in premenopausal women help protect them from the risk of cardiovascular disease. Smoking lowers the age of onset of menopause bye 1 to 2 years, with heavy smokers reaching menopause at around age 48 and nonsmokers around 50, thereby indirectly increasing the risk for cardiovascular disease. (Chesney & Nealey, 1996)

This biological difference between men and women highlights that there are different gender risk factors even within a risk factor such as smoking. Estrogen replacement therapies may be beneficial to some women but may cause uterine cancer in others.

Studies that have shown that estrogen replacements decrease heart disease in postmenopausal women should therefore be viewed with caution

Vertinsky asserts that menopause should not be “blamed” for increasing rates of heart disease in women and considered an independent risk factor. If it is, other important risk factors such as lifestyle, diet, smoking, or poverty are underestimated.

Simply being a postmenopausal woman then becomes a risk factor and would be a double standard. There are adverse affects of withdrawal of testosterone from the body of men but simply being a man of a certain age is not considered an independent risk factor. (McCormick & Bunting)

Diabetes increases a woman’s risk for heart and cardiovascular disease, and is a greater risk factor for women than men. In men, diabetes increases risk of cardiovascular diseases by 2 to 3 times while it increases the risk by 3 to 7 times in women.

The risk of having a second heart attack has also been found to increase in women with diabetes but not in men. Diabetes is often coupled with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and obesity which all also increase the risk of heart disease. Physical activity can possibly help lower a diabetic’s need for insulin by keep blood sugar levels low. (NWHIC, 2002)

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