Four times more young women die from cardiovascular disease than in the 90s, warns the European Society of Cardiology, whose congress ends Wednesday in Paris. The reason is smoking and the use of birth control pills.
Cardiologists are concerned about the number of heart attacks among women under 50. According to the data presented at the congress, in 1995, cardiovascular diseases were caused by 3,7 percent. deaths, while in 2010 as much as 11,6 percent.
According to doctors, the increase in mortality in young women is associated with both smoking and taking birth control pills.
While cardiovascular disease is usually attributed to men, women’s new lifestyles – lack of exercise, overweight, stress, alcohol and cigarettes – increase the risk of a heart attack. Young women who smoke at least 3-4 cigarettes a day are particularly at risk. Contraceptive pills also turn out to be an ingredient of this dangerous cocktail, which in combination with cigarettes increases the risk of a heart attack three times.
Moreover, as it was emphasized during the congress, a heart attack is often diagnosed too late. Cardiologists pointed out that women have different symptoms of a heart attack (abdominal pain, excessive sweating, palpitations, nausea) than men. Often, these signs are not associated with the family or the doctor with cardiovascular disease.
According to a study by Dr. Claire Mounier-V, a hier from Lille, women are afraid to die of breast cancer, which kills one in 25 women in France, while one woman in three will suffer from cardiovascular disease.
Congress is an opportunity to alert women that they are, just like men, at risk of dying from vascular disease, said Genevieve Durumeaux, president of the French Society of Cardiology. (PAP)