Coronary Artery Disease (CAD)
- Gender seems to matter in the way Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is perceived. The disease does not receive the attention and concern in women that it receives in men.
- CAD causes impaired blood flow in the arteries that supply blood to the heart. It is the most common form of heart disease.
- The most worrying factor is that it is affecting more women in the reproductive age group now, unlike in the past when women got it mostly after menopause. The main reason for this is extreme stress caused due to multi-tasking.
- The risk factors for heart disease in women include the classic regular ones such as smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, lack of physical activity and an unhealthy diet.
- “There are also some specific ones which include the use of birth control and other hormone pills. But, in 20% of women, atypical symptoms such as discomfort in the shoulders, back, and neck and shortness of breath are often the first and only presenting symptoms,”
