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Here’s what you need to know if you’ve been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease

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Ask your doctor to evaluate you before resuming sexual activity.

If you’ve had heart failure or a heart attack, cardiac rehabilitation and regular physical activity can reduce the risk of complications related to sexual activity.021.

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If you’re thinking about starting birth control or getting pregnant, be sure to talk to your doctor first.

Don’t skip the medications that could improve cardiovascular symptoms because you’re concerned they could impact your sex drive or function. Your heart health should come first!

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If you’re a post-menopausal woman with cardiovascular disease, it’s generally safe to use estrogen that’s topically or vaginally inserted for the treatment of painful intercourse.

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Women and Hypertension

Hypertension, also referred to as ‘High Blood Pressure’ is characterized by having a blood pressure reading equal to or over 140/90mm Hg (SBP/DBP)

What is Hypertension?

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Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

Risk Factors:

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Age

Sleep apnea

Overweight and obesity

Low levels of physical activity

Family history of hypertension and genetic factors

Excessive consumption of alcohol

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Stress

Use of tobacco

Lower education level

High sodium, high fat diet

Ethnicity (African, Caucasian.. etc)

Lower socioeconomic status

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Heart Disease and Obesity in Women

Obesity

  • Within 20 years, the percent of obese adult women has increased significantly:
  • 1988-1994: 25.5% obese
  • 2009-2012: 35.9% obese
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Heart Disease

  • More than 50 million women are currently living with some form of cardiovascular disease.
  • Millions of women are currently living with coronary heart disease (CHD).
  • Heart disease is the leading cause of death of women.

The Risks

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Obesity is a major risk factor for heart cardiovascular disease (CVD) and is associated with 13% of CVD deaths in adults.

Between 1971 and 2004 total energy consumption for adult women has increased by 22%, compared to a 10% increase in adult men.

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44.9% of adult women have total cholesterol of at least 200mg/dL.

31.7% of women do not engage in leisure time physical activity.

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18.5% of adults who are obese also have diabetes. The greater a person’s BMI (Body Mass Index), the greater their risk of having diabetes.

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Heart Disease and Diabetes in Women

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Your body gets most of its energy from glucose, a form of sugar that comes from some of the food you eat. If you have diabetes, it’s harder for your body to turn food into energy. That’s because the body either:

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cannot produce enough insulin (a hormone produced by the pancreas),

or both.

cannot use insulin (also called insulin resistance),

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Without enough insulin, glucose can’t enter the cells. Over time, the amount of glucose in your blood rises and cells are starved of energy. In addition to heart attack and stroke, uncontrolled diabetes can eventually lead to other health problems as well, such as blindness, kidney failure, and amputations.

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Heart disease & diabetes often occur together. Whether you have heart disease or are at high risk of it, get your blood glucose (sugar) level checked regularly, especially if diabetes runs in your family.

Diabetes

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  • 10.6 million women have diabetes (8 percent of all women ages 20 years and older)
  • 3 million women who have diabetes are undiagnosed.
  • 34.4 million women have pre-diabetes.
  • 14.6% of African-American women have diabetes.
  • 11.8% of Hispanic-American women have diabetes.
  • Prevalence for diabetes African American women is two times higher than in Caucasian women (14.6% of African-American women have diabetes while 6.1% of Caucasian women have diabetes)
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Heart Disease

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  • 43.8 million women are currently living with some form of cardiovascular disease. Nearly 7 million women have a history of heart attack and/or angina.
  • 6.6 million women are currently living with coronary heart disease (CHD).
  • Heart disease is the leading cause of death of American women and is responsible for 1 in 3 deaths in women annually.
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  • Diabetes dramatically increases a woman’s chances of developing heart disease and having a heart attack and at much younger ages.
  • Diabetes erases the heart protective benefits of estrogen during child-bearing years.
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Women with diabetes are up to five times more likely to develop heart disease than women who don’t have diabetes. Women with diabetes who have survived a heart attack are at much greater risk of having a second one compared to women without diabetes. Diabetes contributes to heart-related deaths.

Two out of three women with diabetes die from heart disease.

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While the death rate from heart disease has dropped by 27 percent in women without diabetes, deaths from heart and blood vessel disease in women with diabetes have increased by 23 percent over the last 30 years.

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Smoking doubles the risk for heart disease in people with diabetes.

2 out of 3 adults with diabetes report also having high blood pressure or taking prescription medications to lower their blood pressure.

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  • Women with diabetes are 2.5 times more likely to have heart attacks.
  • The risk for stroke is 1.5 times higher among people with diabetes.
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2 out of 3 adults with diabetes report also having high blood pressure or taking prescription medications

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Know Your (Diabetes) ABCs

Your health care team will focus on controlling your blood sugar levels and lowering blood pressure and blood cholesterol, together with use of aspirin and other medications as indicated.

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A

stands for A1C (a test that shows average blood glucose level over the past three months). Have this checked at least twice a year.

A1C target Below 7 percent

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B

is for blood pressure. High blood pressure is serious and can make your heart work too hard.
Blood pressure target Below 130/80 mm Hg

C

is for cholesterol (lipids). Have it checked at least once a year.

Blood fat (cholesterol) targets LDL (bad) cholesterol Under 100 mg/dL Triglycerides Under 150 mg/dL HDL (good) cholesterol For men: above 40 mg/dL For women: above 50 mg/dL

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