More women die of heart disease

Friday, May 06, 2011

Gulf News

Dubai More women than men are in danger of dying of heart diseases in the UAE and unfortunately many are under-diagnosed and under-treated, senior heart doctors warned yesterday.

The doctors said the situation is alarming as heart disease is the number one killer of women and more needs to be done to make women aware of their risk factors.

Dr Nooshin Bazargani, head of Emirates Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Group, said a recent registry done of heart attack patients in the Gulf showed that more women were suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, than men.

“Women are more scared they will die of breast cancer or HIV. That’s not true,” she said. “Women seek help later than men,” she said and noted that “doctors tend to give less treatment to women heart attack patients than for male patients”.

Worse outcome

She said an analysis of the Gulf registry showed that 80 per cent of the women heart attack patients were citizens and 20 per cent were expatriates. In men it was 50 per cent citizens and 50 per cent expatriates, she said.

Dr Bazargani said the study showed the outcome of heart attack is more eventful in women than in men. “This means women with heart attacks have more complications as compared to men who have heart attacks. Women are more at a risk of bleeding, have a higher risk of heart failure, and are more at a risk of death.”

To help offset this situation and prevent deaths, the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) is running a Go Red For Women campaign today and Saturday at the Deira City Centre. It will be offered again on May 13 and 14.

Every day six heart attack patients are admitted at the Rashid Hospital. “The men are under 50, while the women are [more] older,” said Dr Khaja Omar Mohammad, cardiologist.

He said after treatment of a heart patient is expensive and is around Dh800 per month, for uncomplicated cases. “It impacts on your quality of life,” he said.

Dr Arif Abdul Latif Al Mulla, Head of Cardiology, Dubai Hospital said: “Diabetic women suffer from the risk of chronic heart disease eight times more than non-diabetic women.”

The risk is three times more in diabetic men than in non-diabetic men.

70%

women in the GCC states suffering from high blood pressure

43%

men in the GCC states suffering from high blood pressure

screening

alarming numbers

Registry of heart attack patients in Gulf Cooperation Council states showed:

n 55 per cent of women were diabetic compared to 36 per cent of men.

n 44 per cent women had high cholesterol compared to 28 per cent of men.

Doctor’s advice

Every woman older than 20 are advised to check themselves once a year for risk factors such as hypertension, high cholesterol and blood sugar level.