Cases of heart diseases among women up by 10%

 Though three in 10 women are prone to heart diseases, they continue to ignore earlydiagnosis and eat unhealthy food, say heart specialists

Shruti Shah, a 36-year old IT professional and mother of a teenager, worked 10-11 hours every day. Along with office work, she had to take care of the household chores. Busy balancing her life between work and family, she forgot to look after her health. Irregular sleeping hours, stress and eating junk food took a toll on her heart. She suffered a heart attack last week.

“Since it is unusual for women to have heart problems at such early age, Iignored the symptoms. Had I paid attention to my health and taken medication early enough, I would not have suffered,” she said.

Recent studies have revealed that an increasing number of women below 50 are being diagnosed with heart diseases, breaking the notion that men are more prone to the same. According to Indus Health Plus report, cases of heart diseases among women have gone up by 10 per cent in the past three years in Ahmedabad. A 7 per cent surge in cardiovascular diseases (CVD) among young women has also been reported. The factors responsib le include sedentary lifestyle, work stress, unhealthy diet, ignorance and obesity which affect both homemakers and working women, say doctors.

Dr Sameer Dani, interventional cardiologist, says that in the past he used to receive 15-20 per cent cases of this kind, but now it has gone up to 30 per cent. “With more number of women juggling office work and domestic chores, they are dealing with more stress now. Besides, intake of unhealthy food affects their health adversely,” said Dr Dani. As reported by medical experts, heart ailments among young women have gone up by 30 per cent.

Amol Naikawadi, a preventive healthcare specialist, said that obesity among women makes them more vulnerable to heart ailments than men.

According to Dr Bansi Saboo, a diabetes specialist, around 40 per cent of his female patients are obese, making them prone to heart ailments.

IGNORANCE WIDESPREAD

Though three in every 10 women are prone to heart diseases, they continue ignoring early diagnosis and treatment, say medical experts. They say that if these women follow regular treatment and exercise, heart attack can be avoided in 80 per cent of the cases.

“Due to their ignorance, the treatment gets delayed, putting them at the risk of heart ailments. Women need to be more careful and pay attention to their heart condition. We receive many cases with women complaining about frequent chest pain,“ added Dr Dani.