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Atherosclerosis
Factors That Influence Disease
Factors that influence disease: Atherosclerosis and gender
Atherosclerosis is often colloquially referred to as the 'hardening of the arteries.' In a patient with atherosclerosis, plaque builds up on the patient's blood vessels which are required to "carry oxygen-rich blood to your heart and other parts of your body" (What is atherosclerosis, 2013, NIH). Impeding this flow can have severe health effects, including coronary and cardioid heart disease as well as liver disease. "Plaque is made up of fat, cholesterol, calcium, and other substances found in the blood" (What is atherosclerosis, 2013, NIH). If a piece of the plaque falls off or a blood clot forms on the plaque, the result can be a life-threatening heart attack or stroke. In some cases, the thinning of the artery walls causes angina or chest pain but in other instances there are no or very few symptoms.
Coronary heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women yet only recently has the condition in women received adequate attention. The 'classic' heart attack patient is often characterized in the popular cultural imagination as male even though men and women actually suffer from the condition in equal numbers. Women themselves often severely underestimate...
Yet "nearly 500,000 women will die this year from cardiovascular disease, almost double the number of deaths caused by all types of cancer including breast cancer combined" (Ricciotti 2003).
Even healthcare providers may underestimate the risk posed to women. Women often experience different symptoms from men when suffering from atherosclerosis. Their symptoms can be more subtle and therefore are easily missed. While men are more likely to experience the classic 'elephant on the chest' feeling when experiencing an attack, women may think they have the flu. "Instead they may experience shortness of breath, pressure or pain in the lower chest or upper abdomen, dizziness, lightheadedness or fainting, upper back pressure or extreme fatigue" (Heart attack symptoms in women, 2014, AHA). Rather than pressure in the middle of the chest the pain may be somaticized as a sense of 'squeezing' in the back. Middle-aged and older women may also be apt to attribute these symptoms to menopause rather than heart disease. Women are assumed to be more likely to have psychosomatic disorders and the sensation that their heart is 'stopping' might be misattributed to anxiety rather than a physical condition (Ricciotti 2003). There is…
References
Heart attack symptoms in women. (2014). AHA. Retrieved from:
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HeartAttack/WarningSignsofaHeartAttack/Heart-Attack-Symptoms-in-Women_UCM_436448_Article.jsp
How does heart disease affect women? (2013). NIH. Retrieved from:
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/hdw/
http://www.bidmc.org/CentersandDepartments/Departments/Medicine/Divisions/CardiovascularMedicine/YourHeartHealth/TipsforHeartHealth/HeartDiseaseDifferencesBetweenMenandWomen.aspx
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/atherosclerosis/
The estimated age-adjusted prevalence of angina in women age 20 and older were 3.5% for non-Hispanic white women, 4.7% for non-Hispanic black women and 2.2% for Mexican-American women. Rates for men in these three groups were 4.5, 3.1 and 2.4%, respectively. Among American adults age 20 and older, the estimated age-adjusted prevalence of coronary heart disease for non-Hispanic whites is 8.9% for men and 5.4% for women; for non-Hispanic
Macabasco-O'Connell et.al say that the stress levels for women in this group is oftentimes higher than non-minority women in higher socioeconomic groups. The high amount of stress that these women experience is usually accompanied with depression and studies have shown that depression can also lead to a greater risk of heart disease (2, 3). Because many women from lower socio-economic statuses are uninsured or underinsured, they run the risk
Most of the studies stressed the need for additional research in their given area of investigation, and gender differences it would seem remain better described than understood. Conclusion The research showed that there were some documented biological differences in the incidence of heart disease among American men and women, and these differences were further accentuated by a number of gender-related behaviors that may account for some of the disparity between the
Table of Contents Introduction 3 Background 3 Hypothesis 7 Methods 8 Results 9 Table 1 Western Governor Township Race by Family History of Heart Disease 10 Table 3 Analysis of Variance Difference in Household Income by Race 11 Conclusion 12 References 14 List of Tables Table 1 Western Governor Township Race by Family History of Heart Disease 4 Table 2 Household Income and History of Disease 4 Table 3 Analysis of Variance Difference in Household Income by Race 5 Introduction Heart disease has been an
Coronary Heart Disease: Symptoms, Diagnosis, And Treatment Options Coronary Heart Disease Among the common diseases that affect the heart, coronary heart disease is the most common in the U.S., and is the leading cause of heart attacks among men and women. Coronary heart disease, in some quarters referred to as coronary artery disease (CAD), is the inability of blood vessels to supply the required amount of oxygen and blood to the heart
Stress and CAD Before discussing the link between stress and heart disease, we must operationalize stress. The reason for this is that when one does a literature search in PubMed using the search terms "stress and heart disease" one will get nearly 40,000 references. Stress contributing to cardiovascular disease has been defined as vital exhaustion, oxidative stress, psychiatric disorders, or multiple other physical stressors that impact cardiovascular functioning. This paper will