Article for November, 2005
The Dangerous Link Between Diabetes and Women's Heart Disease
By Stephanie Coulter, MD
Texas Heart © Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital
During the 1980s, American men got the message that cardiovascular disease was killing them, and they did something about it. They stopped smoking, they started exercising, and they visited their doctors. As a result, the risk of a man in Western society dying from cardiovascular disease has dramatically decreased.
Sadly, in responding to the ravages of cardiovascular disease in men, we overlooked its devastation of women. Today, more women than men are dying of cardiovascular disease—one million American women per year.
Clearly women are willing and able to heed sound medical advice. They’ve gotten the message about breast cancer and are doing self-examinations and getting regular mammograms. In fact, women are terrified of breast cancer, even though their risk of dying of heart disease or stroke is much higher.
Cardiovascular disease is a complex condition with many contributing risk factors, including smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, physical inactivity, obesity, and diabetes. Among the general population, diabetes is perhaps the least known of these risk factors. It is also one of the most deadly and, in a society in which obesity has become prevalent, one of the most important to understand in protecting women’s cardiovascular health.
Read the rest of this month's article, "The Dangerous Link Between Diabetes and Women’s Heart Disease"
This health article is brought to you by our Featured Health Article of the month:
Stephanie Coulter, MD
Texas Heart © Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital
Dr. Stephanie Coulter is a board-certified cardiologist with a special interest in heart disease in women. She serves on the medical staff at the Texas Heart © Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital and practices at Leachman Cardiology Associates in Houston, Texas.
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Current as of November 2005
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