“Women at Greater Risk for Heart Disease and Stroke Due to High Blood Pressure, Warns European Society of Cardiology”

2023-05-18 09:05:02

Cardiovascular diseases were once considered a typical “men’s disease”. But that is not the case. One of the biggest risk factors for heart attack and stroke, high blood pressure, is something women should be particularly careful about. This warning is now available from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) on the occasion of World Hypertension Day (May 17th).

Cardiovascular risk begins with a lower increase in values

Angela Maas, former director of the cardiological women’s health program at the Radboud-MedUni in Nijmegen in the Netherlands: “Cardiovascular diseases are the most common cause of death in women. The risk of these diseases increases in women when their blood pressure is lower than in men . My message: ‘Women should know their blood pressure readings, take them seriously and get their doctors to start treatment if they are elevated’.”

One in three women worldwide suffers from high blood pressure. “Despite the importance of hypertension, it is often underestimated in women and poorly treated compared to men. One of the reasons for this is that in the under-50 age group men suffer from high blood pressure more often. After the menopause the But this is reversed for women. From the age of 65, women are more often affected,” the Dutch expert stated.

There is also a complication of untreated hypertension that is characteristic of women: a form of heart failure caused by a stiff heart muscle. In addition, the overall risk of stroke in women increases when blood pressure values ​​are lower than in men. Elevated blood pressure triples the risk of developing chronic cardiac insufficiency (weakness of the organ) for women, while for men this “only” manifests itself in a doubling of the frequency.

While hypertension is currently defined in Europe as a systolic blood pressure value of more than 140 mmHg and more than 90 mmHg diastolic (upper/lower value), women under 80 years of age and their doctors should become suspicious from values ​​of 130 mmHg. Several measurements are necessary for a hypertension diagnosis. Expert discussions have been going on for a long time about whether the applicable target values ​​should not be further reduced.

(APA/red, Photo: APA/BARBARA GINDL)