Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility Skip to main content
En Español
A A

It Is Wise To Be Heart Wise

By Joy T

Whenever I do a detailed health history, I start by “joking” that my dad’s side of the family all die of strokes and that my mom’s side has more diverse endings. Then I pull out my family tree and show all the people who died from strokes and the living relatives with diagnosed hypertension and the doctors audibly sigh — each time. My sister was put on hypertension meds at age 20 and she was still in peak competitive swimming shape. The gene pool can be strong sometimes.

My mom’s health attention turned to her children once she was diagnosed with hypertension herself. No one left for college without knowing how to take a manual blood pressure. All of our first housewarming presents were automatic blood pressure cuffs. My mom sent me a new one when I became pregnant with my oldest, and, as only a mother would, went looking for it when she was visiting last Thanksgiving to make sure I was keeping it in an easy-to-reach place.

Having an automatic blood pressure cuff has been extremely helpful. It has provided many important data points. It even helped detect a heart rhythm irregularity caused by medication. In the United States, heart disease is the leading cause of death for women and can affect them at any age.

Our friends at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) state that women also face specific factors related to reproductive health and pregnancy, including:

  • Early first period (before age 11)
  • Early menopause (before age 40)
  • Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
  • Diabetes during pregnancy (gestational diabetes)
  • Preterm delivery
  • Delivery of a low birth weight or high birth weight infant
  • Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy
  • Peripartum cardiomyopathy

Pregnancy in people who already have coronary heart disease is risky. About one in 10 will have some type of heart complication while pregnant or within a year after giving birth.

This is why my mom believes in home blood pressure cuffs and nagging your provider/or getting a new one if you feel like you need more attention to your risk factors.

What I found most interesting as I got older is that even though coronary heart disease is the most common type of heart disease. Coronary heart disease affects the larger coronary arteries on the surface of the heart. GUESS WHAT???!!!!??? Coronary microvascular disease is more common in women. Coronary microvascular disease means blood flow into the tiny arteries within the heart muscle is blocked. This happens when there is damage to the inner walls of the heart’s small blood vessels.

What you can do

  • Tell all of your friends about what you just learned.
  • Buy automatic blood pressure cuffs as birthday, anniversary, housewarming and holiday presents.
  • Share your family history with your family AND provider. You never know when other folks can connect dots that you may have forgotten about which can lead you to getting help sooner.
  • Ask about important diagnostic tests. Health care providers may be less likely to refer women for diagnostic tests for coronary heart disease. When women go to the hospital for heart-related symptoms, they may be more likely than men to experience delays in receiving an initial electrocardiogram, less likely to receive care from a heart specialist when hospitalized, and less likely to receive some treatments and medicines. Younger women are more likely than men to be misdiagnosed and sent home from the emergency department after cardiac events caused by undiagnosed and untreated microvascular heart disease.
  • Ask about treatment options that are effective for both women and men. Women may be less likely than men to receive medicines, devices, and procedures to treat their heart disease, even when research shows that both women and men benefit.
  • Know and share your risk factors. Health care providers may not understand women’s unique risk factors for coronary heart disease. Commonly used risk scoring systems may not accurately predict risk in women.
  • Learn the symptoms and seek medical care right away. Immediate care may help prevent complications such as a heart attack or sudden cardiac arrest.

Take it from me and my Mamma – it is wise to be heart wise!