Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. It is estimated that more than 250,000 women die every year in the United States due to myocardial infarction. This disease causes 50% more deaths than cancer. The incidence of coronary heart disease has remained unchanged in the last decade for women while it has been decreasing in men.
The first step is to implement governmental policies to increase education on cardiovascular risk, because most women are unaware of the key facts about cardiovascular prevention and how to start a healthy life style. This must be done since early childhood.
The second step must focus on early detection of women at risk, including the evaluation of traditional risk factors, the increasing rates of cigarette smoking, physical inactivity, obesity, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome which have been reported in younger women.
Finally, We must change the paradigm of treatment for heart disease in women towards preventing it from early childhood, supporting firm government policies aimed at healthier life-styles in our population, addressing barriers to healthcare access by women and stimulating innovative research in coronary heart disease on gender-specific issues in order to decrease the burden of heart disease in the
world. (Saldarriaga C (2013) How to Reduce the Burden of Coronary Heart Disease in Women?)
Last date updated on July, 2014