Loving Heart

Ladies, care for your heart.

Ask any woman which body part tops the list when it  comes to physical well-being  and most would understandably focus on the health of their breasts. But ladies beware: The biggest threat to your health is coronary heart disease–not breast cancer.

According to the Singapore Heart Foundation (SHF), cardiovascular disease is the largest single cause of female mortality and accounts for one-third of all deaths among women worldwide, killing more than eight million women annually.

Love thy heart

The common belief that heart disease affects mostly men is a dangerous myth, though not an unwarranted one.

Oestrogen is thought to have a protective effect on women’s hearts by causing women to have–compared to men–a lower systolic blood pressure, lower level of low density lipoprotein (LDL) or bad cholesterol, and a higher level of high density lipoprotein (HDL) or good cholesterol, reveals the SHF.

Consequently, less cholesterol deposits build up in women’s arteries, reducing their risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

Yet in reality, more women than men die of heart disease in the US each year, reports Mayo Clinic. In Singapore, though men are more likely to have myocardial infarction (heart attack) than women, women are more likely to die than men, reveals Dr Low Lip Ping, chairman of SHF.

Risk prevention

The link between oestrogen and heart disease puts three categories of women at greater risk: menopausal women, women taking oral contraceptives, and pregnant women.

Even if you don’t fall under the higher-risk groups, women still need to make necessary heart-protective lifestyle changes.

Dr Low says that everyone–whether male or female–should know his risk level via factors like weight or body mass index (BMI), blood pressure (BP), lipids (including LDL, HDL cholesterol and triglycerides), blood glucose levels, smoking rate, physical activity, age, menopausal status, and family history.

“The greater the number and higher the level of the risk factors, the higher the risk of suffering a cardiovascular event like a heart attack, heart failure or stroke.”

Regardless of whether you’re in your 20s, 30s or 40s, Dr Low says younger women also need to pay attention to the above risk factors. “Take action to reduce them, whether by more exercises, reducing weight, not smoking, treating high BP, high cholesterol or diabetes,” adds Dr Low •

Need to know Myocardial

infarction (MI)

 ­MI (Heart attack) event rate per
100,000 Singapore residents aged
20 to 64 (1999)­      

Male­  133.6­                          Female­  32.6­

The 28-day case fatality rate
for MI (1999)­  

Male­  20.6%­                          Female­  29.6%­

One year case fatality rate (1999)­                        

Male­  24.1%­                         Female­  33.8%­

Conclusion Women who suffered MI were more likely to die than men both at 28 days and one year later.

Source: Singapore Myocardial
Infarction Register (SMIR)

Hearty guidelines

• Avoid smoking and
limit alcohol.

• Eat a diet rich in fruits,
vegetables and grain products.

• Exercise regularly.

• Control other health conditions that may put a strain on your heart, such as high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol.

Source: Mayo Clinic