Women's top 5 health concerns
From heart disease to breast cancer to depression, Medical Health Care Information gives you the inside info on why women are at high risk for these problems but may not know it. Imagine living without illness to slow you down. While there are no lifetime guarantees, enough scientific research has been done to make long, healthy living a possibility.
To help women boost health, Medical Health Care Information examined five medical conditions that are of great concern to them: heart disease, breast cancer, osteoporosis, depression, and autoimmune diseases.
We looked at the risk factors for each disease and asked the experts what women could do to prevent such ailments.
In order to make full use of this information researcher encourages women to take charge of their health. Researcher says women need to work in partnership with their doctors by finding out their family medical history, educating themselves on health issues, and paying attention to their bodies.
"You know what makes you feel good, you know when you don't feel well. Understanding your body is Key".
Heart Disease
Heart disease is the leading killer of both men and women. In women, the condition is responsible for about 29% of deaths, reports the CDC.
Yet death in itself isn't the biggest problem for women with heart disease. The real trouble is in premature death and disability.
"There are far too many women dying of heart disease in their 60s, when no one expects to die because that's too young in this country". "There are (also) women, who, for many years, are really ill with heart disease - being out of breath, not being able to walk up one flight of stairs . because heart disease impairs their ability to get around".
Although more men die of heart disease than women, females tend to be under diagnosed, often to the point that it's too late to help them once the condition is discovered.
"The symptoms for women are typical for women, and they are often missed by doctors and the patient themselves" they explain. "We often think of symptoms . like chest pain. Some people may have that, but others may just have a little bit of jaw pain, shoulder ache, nausea, vomiting, or shortness of breath".
The American Heart Association lists risk factors for heart disease as:
- Increasing age.
- Male sex.
- Heredity (including race). People with family history of the disease have greater risk. So do African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, and some Asian-Americans.
- Smoking.
- High blood cholesterol.
- High blood pressure.
- Physical inactivity.
- Obesity and overweight.
- Diabetes.
Breast Cancer
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. It is second to lung cancer as the leading cause of death for women.
Experts say the fear of breast cancer can sometimes be exaggerated, stopping women from going to their doctors for screening, or pushing women to make rash decisions about mastectomy, when it may it may not be necessary.
"There's a lot of treatment for breast cancer - It's not a death sentence," researcher says. They urges women to keep their emotions in perspective and to educate themselves about the issues.
The American Cancer Society lists the following as risk factors for breast cancer:
- Female sex.
- Increasing age.
- Genes. Nearly 5% to 10% of breast cancer is linked to mutations in certain genes (most commonly, the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes).
- Family history of the disease.
- Personal history of the disease.
- Race. White women have a slightly greater risk of getting breast cancer compared with African-American women. Yet African-Americans have a greater chance of dying from this disease.
- Earlier abnormal breast biopsy.
- Earlier breast radiation.
- Early onset of menstruation (before age 12) or menopause after age 55.
- Not having children.
- Medication use, such as diethylstilbestrol (DES).
- Too much alcohol.
- Poor diet.
- Obesity
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