Heart Disease in Women: What Do You Need to Know?

Many elderly adults will have heart disease. Research shows that elderly women are, in fact, more apt to get heart disease than elderly men. If you are taking care of an elderly woman, it is important to know more about heart disease and what risk factors there are. By learning more about heart disease in elderly women, you could potentially help to save your elderly loved one’s life.  

Women and Heart Disease

Senior Care Glenwood, MN:Heart Disease in Women

According to the CDC, approximately 1 in every 16 women (20 and older) have coronary heart disease. There are certain types of heart diseases that are much more common in women. These include broken heart syndrome, stress-induced cardiomyopathy, and coronary microvascular disease. In fact, research shows that the onset of menopause is linked to many of the cases of coronary microvascular disease. With that being said, it is quite difficult to diagnose this condition. This is because there aren’t any tests that are reliable enough to detect this disease.  

It is important that you make sure your elderly loved one is following through with all of their check-ups at their doctor’s office. If they are experiencing any signs of heart disease such as chest pain, trouble breathing, feeling their heart race, feeling dizzy or lightheaded, or feeling skipped beats, they need to tell their doctor right away.  

Risk Factors 

There are some risk factors that you and your elderly loved one need to know about in regard to heart disease. Some of the risk factors that you should be aware of include having an unhealthy diet, not exercising enough throughout the years, having a family history of heart disease, and being highly stressed for a long time. If your elderly loved one has any of these risk factors, you should make sure they are seeing their doctor more often.  

Keep in mind that even if your elderly loved one doesn’t have a family history of heart disease, that doesn’t mean that they can’t develop heart disease. 

There is so much information out there about heart disease. Millions of people suffer from heart disease every year. Unfortunately, there are many people that pass away from heart conditions, as well. It is important to make sure your elderly loved one is taking all the precautions necessary to protect their heart. If they experience any heart health issues, they should see their doctor right away.  

 

If you or an aging loved-one are considering Senior Care in Glenwood, MN please contact the caring staff at Alternative Senior Care today. Providing Home Care in Central Minnesota and Surrounding Communities. Call us Today (320) 352-3350

 

Sources 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3018605/ 

https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/women.htm 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Lainie Berg