• CVD's accounts for 65-75% of all deaths in Diabetes.

Women with CVD continue to be under-diagnosed and under-treated due to misconceptions and lack of awareness. Young women are more likely to die following a heart attack than young men. There are several risk factors which contribute in women to a higher risk in women. Age hypertension, blood pressure, changes in body composition insulin sensitivity, physical inactivity menstrual status and the presence of metabolic syndrome.

The explanation for the greater risk of CVD events in women could be as follows:

  • Diabetes: Women with diabetes are more likely to develop heart disease than men with diabetes.
  • Stress: Stress and depression affect women’s hearts more than men’s. Depression can also make it difficult to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
  • Smoking: Women who smoke are more likely to develop CVD than men who smoke.
  • Menopause: Low levels of estrogen after menopause increase the risk of developing disease in smaller blood vessels.
  • Pregnancy complications: High blood pressure or diabetes during pregnancy can increase a mother’s long-term risk of high blood pressure, diabetes and CVD.

Women of all ages should take heart disease seriously and pay close attention to CVD risk factors.

How to prevent :

1. Eat healthy balanced diet.

2. ⁠Exercise regularly.

3. ⁠Maintain a healthy body weight.

4. ⁠Avoid tobacco use.

5. ⁠Avoid alcohol.

6. ⁠Manage stress.

7. ⁠Know your Blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels.

How to Treat CVD in women :

Lifestyle changes such as diet, exercise, and alcohol and tobacco use.

Medication, including ones that treat risk factors like blood pressure, or to dissolve blood clots.

Devices such as pacemakers or implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs).

Medical procedures including stents, heart valve surgery or coronary bypass surgery