2023-09-26 13:07:51
Killer heart disease in women. “The perception that women represent a population at low risk for cardiovascular diseases must be reconsidered and it is important to dispel the erroneous belief that these diseases are typical of the male sex, given that compared to a hospitalization rate in Italy that is almost double in men compared to women for acute cardiovascular pathologies, mortality in Europe, both in absolute and percentage terms, is higher in women than in men”. In view of World Heart Day which is celebrated on 29 September, the Foundation for Your Heart of the National Association of Hospital Cardiologists (Anmco) is keen to dismantle the false myth according to which heart diseases are not ‘diseases for women’, and to highlight the key role of gender prevention.
“Cardiovascular diseases – explains the Foundation – still remain the main cause of death in the world today, with around 17 million deaths every year and 230 thousand in our country. But 80% of these deaths are largely preventable as they , alongside non-modifiable risk factors such as age, sex and family history, there are also modifiable factors linked to correct behavior and lifestyle”. The 2023 message of World Heart Day is precisely “the importance of prevention and adherence to treatment, which allow us to live well even with a cardiovascular disease”.
“Prevention represents the most effective weapon to combat the onset and progression of cardiovascular diseases – states Domenico Gabrielli, president of the Foundation for Your Heart and director of Cardiology at the San Camillo hospital in Rome – and the Foundation for Your heart of Italian hospital cardiologists Anmco, which I have the honor of chairing, has been actively engaged in this sense for over twenty years through research and various prevention initiatives, with the aim of reducing cardiovascular diseases which – specifies the expert – they affect men and women without distinction.”
Atypical and difficult to recognize symptoms, late diagnoses and a double risk of complications are some of the factors that penalize the ‘pink heart’ when they fall ill. “Women – Gabrielli points out – die every year more from cardiovascular diseases than from breast or uterine cancer. But despite these worrying data, cardiovascular diseases in women remain little recognized and in many cases little understood, having not yet achieved the same public awareness of male cardiovascular disease. The need to promote greater emphasis on gender-specific aspects of cardiovascular risk factors, the manifestation of disease states and the response to therapies is now evident”.
“Although women show a clinical onset of ischemic heart disease with a delay of more than 10 years compared to men, because they are significantly protected by female hormones until menopause – confirms the specialist – the events they experience are more serious in all age groups of age and mortality from coronary events is higher in women than in men. Therefore, even for young women, who are less likely to get ill, there is greater mortality and complications in the event of the onset of ischemic pathology”.
If heart diseases kill more women than men, “the reasons are different: one of the main causes – explains Gabrielli – is attributable to the clinical picture which is sometimes less defined and the main symptom, pain, appears not only more nuanced, but also localized in atypical locations, thus causing delays in both diagnosis and therapeutic treatment”. As for the “greater in-hospital mortality, it is partly linked to pre-hospital delay, but also to the greater number of post-infarction complications: double the number of women compared to men”.
“The role of ‘gender’ – underlines the president of the Foundation for Your Heart – is now widely recognized and knowledge of the specific manifestations of cardiovascular disease can, in my opinion, contribute to decreasing health care disparities for women and improving health global. World Heart Day today represents an opportunity to remind all Italians, men and women, of the importance of prevention and taking care of one’s heart.”
“Parallel to the growth of the possibilities of medical and surgical treatment of the already established disease – recalls Gabrielli – the awareness of the importance of preventative interventions, aimed at preventing or delaying the onset of the disease itself, has emerged, such as “the fight against risk factors such as “smoking, alcohol, poor nutrition and a sedentary lifestyle, which often in turn cause diabetes, obesity, hypercholesterolemia and hypertension. An important fact for the health of Italians – the expert comments – is that in the last 40 years total mortality has more than halved and the contribution from cardiovascular diseases has been the one that has had the greatest influence on the downward trend in mortality. 40% of this reduction is attributable to pharmacological treatments and as much as 55 % is due to the improvement in the control of risk factors”.
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