Dr Anbarasu's Dairy - Women and Heart Attacks
Women and Heart Attacks The recent episode of Sushmita Sen having a heart attack and an emergency Stenting to her blocked Coronary Artery has brought an age old discussion to the centre stage. HEART ATTACKS IN YOUNG AND MIDDLE AGED WOMEN When we were in Medical school, we were taught that women were immune to Ischaemic Heart diseases due to the protection offered by hormones. This is no longer true. We as Heart specialists not infrequently see young and middle aged women coming in with heart attacks and blockage of coronary arteries. A study by Indian Cardiologists from Jaipur states that between year 2000 and 2017, the annual mortality due to heart attacks rose from 8.5 lakh to 15.4 lakh, with the number of women dying rising from 3.2 to 6.2 lakh. The rise among men did not reflect such an alarming rate of rise. Reasons for such alarming rise are Obesity, Diabetes, life style and oral infections. The incidence of central obesity among women is quite high in the previo...