Young women no more safe from heart diseases

It is sure to be a shocker to young women who think they are largely protected from heart diseases. A new survey has found that women in the age group of 20-40 years now face huge risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) due to the changing lifestyle, which is causing drastic hormonal changes in the body.

The survey — Visualizing the extent of heart disease in Indian women, conducted by VEDNA and involving almost 600 health care professionals of metros and non-metros cities across the country — has found that lack of oestrogen hormone, which acts as a protector against heart diseases, is among the top five reasons responsible for menstruating women developing cardiovascular diseases.

Almost 54% of the cardiologists said that there had been a 16 to 20% overall growth rate in cardiovascular diseases among women in the last five years.
More alarmingly 41% of the doctors surveyed said that 10 to 15% growth rate in these diseases are among the age group of 20 to 40 years, the category of women which was earlier considered to be protected from heart ailments.

“Quite contrary to conventional medical ideology that due to oestrogen hormone women, especially menstruating ones, are safe from heart diseases, lately, there has been a colossal rise in number of female cardiovascular patients,” Dr JPS Sawhney, senior cardiologist, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital told reporters.

A majority of the doctors (83%) also stressed that Indian women were ignorant about heart diseases, while 76% observed that women die of heart diseases due to late presentation to hospital. Around 66% of the doctors also cited that CVD death amongst women was due to late diagnosis.

“It is frequently noticed that women often overlook symptoms and discomfort pertaining to heart diseases, and rarely consult an expert,” Dr JPS Sawhney said.

“Even if they do opt for expert’s consultation, more often than not, they discontinue the treatment as soon as they get symptomatic relief. The compliance rate is comparatively poor among women,” he added.

The survey also revealed a striking contrast between working and non-working women in terms of awareness and risk factors.

While 81% of the doctors believed that working women are more conscious about their heart health, a majority of the doctors also noted that heart diseases are on the rise in working women.

“Considering the fact that working women juggle between home and work responsibilities, they are more likely to get exposed to stress and unhealthy lifestyle and therefore could be more prone to cardiovascular diseases as compared to non-working women” Dr. Chandrakant S Pandav, HOD, Center for Community Medicine, AIIMS, said while responding to the survey.

Shocking figures
Cardiologists say that there had been a 16 to 20% overall growth rate in cardiovascular diseases among women in the last five years.

Out of the 600 doctors surveyed 41% of them said that 10 to 15% growth rate in these diseases are among the age group of 20 to 40 years, the category of women which was earlier considered to be protected from heart ailments.