Facts about Women and Cardiovascular Diseases

I am sending you a stats compilation on “Facts about women and cardiovascular diseases”. This was compiled by Dr. Rachna Khanna Singh (NHMC Alumnus), who is associated with Escorts Heart Institute.

Some Facts:

- Heart disease affects women of all racial and ethnic groups, as well as women with other illnesses, such as diabetes.
- Cardiovascular disease (CVD) ranks first among all disease categories in hospital discharges for women.
- More women than men die of stroke.
- Diagnosis of heart disease presents a greater challenge in women than in men.
- Heart disease affects women of all racial and ethnic groups, as well as women with other illnesses, such as diabetes

Gender-specific considerations related to diagnostic test performance might influence the choice of procedures used to evaluate chest pain syndromes in women.

Electrocardiographic (ECG) stress testing in women has a lower sensitivity and specificity compared with men, not only because of gender differences in prevalence and extent of disease but also because women are less likely to achieve an adequate heart rate response and more likely to have repolarization abnormalities.

In addition, hormone replacement therapy may induce a false-positive ST-segment depression, thereby reducing the specificity of ECG exercise testing in women.
Well, this is a small synopsis of her article; you may read the complete one here:

Facts about women and cardiovascular diseases
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