“They don’t care about it, but we died from it.”

This Tuesday World Day of Action for Women’s Health, Of particular importance is the impact of cardiovascular diseases among the female population, which is the main cause of mortality. And women suffer the most, as they die from this cardiovascular cause at a higher rate than men. Hence the importance of awareness.

According to Dr. Rosario Hortaz Nadal, head of the cardiology department at the Miguel Servet Hospital in Zaragoza, “prevention of diseases in women has been focused on the bikini area for many years; No one overlooks going to the gynecologist for a mammogram or ultrasound after a certain age. In this sense, he puts forward: “Women suffer little from cardiovascular diseases and, nevertheless, we die from them.” According to INE, 30% female deaths In 2022, in our Community it was due to diseases of the circulatory system, compared to 19.8% due to tumors, the second cause of death.

Some data indicating the importance of population considering control of cardiac risk factors and lead a healthy lifestyle. This is what Dr. Ortas said in a conversation held on Tuesday at the Women’s House of the City Council of Zaragoza, in collaboration with the Official College of Doctors of Zaragoza. In his speech, he recalls the importance of realizing that “It’s a preventable disease” and the way to do this is to “identify and be aware of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease, which we call modifiable”: hypertension, obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking, sedentary lifestyle…

“Unfortunately, women are underrepresented in clinical trials studying cardiovascular disease,” she said. “And recently the situation is changing, and it has been discovered that There are risk factors for cardiovascular disease that occur only in women.“. Such as the presence of polycystic ovaries, early menarche or menopause, or “any event during pregnancy that is still a stress test.” It increases, and 40% is cardiovascular mortality.” “And even hormones don’t protect us“, he notes.

In this sense, he points out: “We must realize that cardiovascular disease is something that accompanies us throughout our lives, and this may even occur during pregnancy

. And then, in women who have had an event during pregnancy, whether it be gestational hypertension or preeclampsia, gestational diabetes or any other event, it has been noted that these women need to be closely monitored because they are more likely to have an acute cardiac event and , especially in the early stages. , up to 50 years old.”

mortality in acute myocardial infarction, he explains, “in women it is much higher, 10% more than in men”: “And we see these cases rising rapidly in the young age group, from 30 to 50 years old, and especially among women.” . Something directly related to “poor control of risk factors.” According to the latest Spanish National Health Survey, the number of diabetics, hypertension, dyslipidemia… has doubled in the last 10 years: “This leads to a higher prevalence. But if in men the prevalence of the disease increased by 3% in this age group; among women it increased by 10%.”

He stressRemember, this is a clear trigger for cardiovascular risk. “And we know that inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, especially psoriatic arthritis, both diseases that are much more common in women, are also risk factors for cardiovascular disease.”

What are cardiovascular diseases?

According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular diseases are leading cause of death in the world and they are estimated to claim 17.9 million lives each year. These diseases form a group of diseases of the heart and blood vessels, including coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease and rheumatic heart disease. More than four out of five deaths from cardiovascular disease are caused by coronary heart disease and stroke. a third of these deaths occur prematurely in people under 70 years of age.