KARACHI: ‘Women less likely to survive heart attack’
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, April 18: Women are less likely to survive a heart attack than men and if they stay alive for the first time, they face a higher risk of repeated strokes and death. This was stated by consultant cardiologist Dr Sumera Nasim at the Aga Khan University Hospital’s programme on ‘Signs, Symptoms and Care’ the other day.
She said the heart disease was a leading killer of women and almost twice as many women died of cardiovascular diseases than from all cancers combined.
She said combined with hypertension, stroke and other vascular conditions, cardiovascular diseases caused 50 per cent deaths of women every year.
She said though preventing breast and ovarian cancer was important to women, preventing heart disease had to have a higher priority.
Dr Nasim laid emphasis on timely consultation, proper diagnosis and intervention for heart diseases saying that awareness among women regarding the risk factors was a prerequisite.
She suggested a more aggressive control of coronary risk factors along with a greater index of suspicion regarding chest pain and its appropriate evaluation. This could help to reverse the trend of late referral and late intervention, she added.
Dr Hasanat Sharif said cardiovascular diseases were a leading cause of death and disability in the world.
Women during their childbearing life do have some protection from ischemic heart disease but still get affected by other forms of heart ailments like congenital, valvular, hypertensive and rheumatic.
He said it was unfortunate that health and education needs of women continued to be neglected all over the world and good health management involved early recognition and prevention of heart disease.
