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KARACHI, March 9: Women with diabetes are three to seven times more likely to have heart diseases than those without diabetes and the symptoms of a heart attack in women may be different from that experienced by men.
A report by the Diabetic Association of Pakistan said that the risk factors for developing heart diseases are more common and powerful in women with diabetes.
It added that women before menopause are usually protected against heart diseases due to estrogen and that diabetes overrides or negates the protective effects of estrogen regardless of age.
Extreme fatigue, that is different from usual indigestion, severe nausea or vomiting may be the only symptoms women experience. The symptoms may be so vague that they may often go unnoticed.
Unfortunately, too many women delay getting to the hospital, either because of denial or just not knowing the symptoms.
Women with diabetes, who have a heart attack, are twice as likely to have a second attack and four times more likely to have heart failure. Under the given circumstances, women who may already had a heart attack are advised to pay attention and immediately get help anytime on experiencing symptoms of a heart trouble.
Taking an aspirin a day and a beta-blocker was said to reduce the risk for another heart attack. Physicians, however, should be consulted if taking an aspirin or a beta-blocker would be appropriate for a patient.
Women with diabetes have been advised to get their blood pressure checked routinely and take measure to get it below 130/80.
BREAST CANCER: Women suffering from early stage of breast cancer with lymph node involvement if administered Taxotere (docetaxel)-based chemotherapy after surgery are 32 per cent less likely to have recurrence of the disease, said a study conducted by the Breast Cancer International Research Group.
The study also concentrated on patients whose cancer had spread to 1 to 3 lymph nodes, representing an estimated 70 per cent of all patients diagnosed with early stage, node positive breast cancer in the US.
Those receiving the Taxotere-based treatment were found to be 50 per cent less likely to experience a recurrence and were 54 per cent less likely to die of their disease than those who received a widely used post-surgery chemotherapy regimen.
The study enrolled 1,491 women with early stage breast cancer in which the cancer cells had spread to lymph nodes at 111 clinical sites in 20 countries.
These women were randomised to receive either the combination of Taxotere, Adriamycin and Cytoxan (cyclophosphamide), a regimen known as TAC, or a widely used standard adjuvant chemotherapy combination of 5-fluorouracil, Adriamycin and Cytoxan or FAC, after surgery.
About 54 per cent of the study patients were 50 years of age or younger, 50 per cent were menopausal, 69 per cent were hormone receptor positive and 60 per cent had tumours larger than two centimetres.
Also of significance was the fact that 62 per cent of the women enrolled in the study had 1 to 3 lymph nodes, a patient profile that is very consistent with the general population of early stage cancer patients with mode involvement.
Another key finding was the benefits witnessed in patients receiving TAC applied to women with hormone receptor positive tumours, as well as hormone receptor negative tumours.
Hormone receptor positive disease is generally associated with a better prognosis as it can be treated with agents to block the supply of hormones necessary for the tumour to grow and survive, but can also be treated with cytotoxic agents.
TAC was shown to have benefits above and beyond those associated with the hormone-blocking agent tamoxifen in treating hormone receptor positive disease and was also shown to be effective in treating hormone negative disease.—APP
