Category: Women's cardiac risk factors

– posts here focus on how to address your risk factors to help prevent heart disease

Bad report card: only 7.5% of us have low risk of heart disease

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ Leave a comment

 

dunce cap

If this were a course at school, we’d get a failing grade and have to go for remedial after-school help. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control in the U.S. have delivered a report card on our risks of developing heart disease that is so bad, we’d be embarrassed to take it home to show the parents.

Heart health risks were actually looking up for North Americans during the 1970s and 80s. “The limited strides that were made over two decades of improvement, however, have been eroded by increases in excess weight, diabetes and hypertension during more recent decades,” according to study author Dr. Earl Ford.

Dr. Ford and his team tracked data on adults aged 25-74 in four surveys, examining these low-risk criteria for heart disease:  Continue reading “Bad report card: only 7.5% of us have low risk of heart disease” →

Love your morning coffee, ladies? The more you drink, the lower your risk of stroke

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 2 Comments

coffee brownHere’s good news for women who drink coffee.  Lots of coffee.  Apparently women who drink four or more cups of coffee per day have a lower risk of stroke than women who don’t drink coffee. Research published in Circulation: The Journal of the American Heart Association looked at data collected in the Nurses’ Health Study, one of the largest collections of scientific data ever collated.

Begun in 1980, the Nurses’ Health Study tracked over 83,000 women for 24 years. The women, all medical health professionals, started the study with no history of heart disease, stroke, diabetes or cancer.

After factoring out other habits such as smoking and exercise, the study found that women who drink coffee have a significantly lower risk of stroke, and that the risk decreased further the more coffee the women drank.  Continue reading “Love your morning coffee, ladies? The more you drink, the lower your risk of stroke” →

Should women take daily aspirin to prevent heart attack?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 11 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas

Women of all ages often ask if they should be taking a daily low-dose (81 mg) of aspirin to improve their heart health.  Well, yes and no, depending on your age. Mayo Clinic cardiologist Dr. Sharonne Hayes, founder and director of the Mayo Women’s Heart Clinic, explains:

“Guidelines urge women to be more aggressive about cutting their heart disease and stroke risks. One of the common recommendations is for women over 65 years of age to consider daily aspirin therapy.

“The aspirin recommendation comes out of the ongoing Women’s Health Initiative study, the largest study of heart disease risk factors in women.  In 2005, the WHI group released a study showing that the most consistent benefit of aspirin for heart attack prevention was observed among women 65 years of age or older.  Women in this age group who took aspirin had nearly one-third fewer cardiovascular events (heart attack and stroke) than did women who took a placebo. However, the women taking aspirin had more gastrointestinal bleeding as well.  Continue reading “Should women take daily aspirin to prevent heart attack?” →

How that ache may signal depression

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 4 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas

There is a disturbing link between women’s heart disease and depression.  Those suffering depression are more at risk for developing heart disease, and those diagnosed with heart disease are more at risk for suffering depression. The majority of depressed people never get help, however, partly because they don’t know that, along with emotional changes, their physical symptoms might also be caused by depression. Doctors may miss these symptoms, too:  Continue reading “How that ache may signal depression” →