Women and heart failure
Limit the use of salt in the kitchen: it is the first advice of the experts to be taken at the table for those suffering from heart failurea cardiovascular disease that does not only affect men, as is thought in the collective imagination, but which affects more and more women.
Suffice it to say that the female people affected by the disease are circa 300.000. Heart failure, in our country, is in fact responsible for 35% of deaths from cardiovascular diseases in women in all age groups, with over 120,000 deaths a year.
The problem was discussed recently also during the Media Talk which was held in Milan entitled: “Women and Health. The importance of following the heart. Cardiovascular risk and metabolic diseases in women: the point about symptoms and management”Sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly.
During the event, the Professor Nadia AspromonteHead of UOS “Heart Failure”, Cardiovascular Sciences Department of the Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome, presented and commented on an analysis of the international scientific literature that investigates the risk of heart failure in women and compares the timeliness in diagnosis and treatment, compared to men.
Quality of life and diet
Women with heart failure have a significantly lower quality of life than men and suffer from anxiety and depression more than men. Although women with heart failure generally live longer than men, the quality of life is worse due to more disabling symptoms.
“Lifestyle – says Prof. Nadia Aspromonte – is a determining factor in the prevention of heart failure as well as in other cardiovascular diseases. Adopting a correct lifestyle is essential and means controlling risk factors, such as hypertension, smoking, cholesterol, diabetes also through diet. For example, particular attention must be paid to sodium intake ”.
But limiting the use of table salt may not be enough, recommends the expert. “We must also pay attention to amount of sodium contained in foods, such as cheeses, or as some “unsuspected” foods such as milk powder, egg white, molluscs, starchy foods “.
“In any case – continues Professor Aspromonte – it is necessary avoid “do it yourself” diets and, more generally, it is important not to neglect one’s lifestyle, contacting the doctor who will be able to evaluate any signs and symptoms, as well as the risk profile, and recommend the necessary actions for proper cardiovascular prevention or for the management of any pathologies. This is even more important for women of menopausal age when the body undergoes inevitable physiological changes, which however can more easily predispose the development of heart disease. “
What is heart failure
Heart failure is one chronic pathology characterized by the difficulty of the heart to perform its normal mechanical function and to provide adequate circulation to meet the body’s demands for oxygenated blood.
According to the data examined, although heart failure mainly affects men, the incidence of heart failure with preserved systolic function in Italian women is double that of the male population and the prevalence of the disease is higher in women over 79 years old compared to men in the same age group.
The diagnosis, however, often is later compared to men due to patients’ own underestimation of common symptoms such as fatigue and dyspnoea, and non-specific symptoms that may be confused with those related to comorbidities such as obesityarterial hypertension, diabetes, dystyroidism, depression and atrial fibrillation.
Risk factors, symptoms and diagnoses in women
Heart failure is usually caused by a combination of conditions and risk factors that impair the function of the heart pump. The main ones are arterial hypertension and myocardial infarction; diabetes and obesity present with a similar incidence. The likelihood of developing heart failure increases exponentially when multiple pathologies coexist in the same individual and amplifies with age.
Echocardiography lets do diagnosis and distinguish the different forms of decompensation which differ in the value of ventricular dysfunction.
The most common symptoms are:
- the dyspnea
- reduced exercise tolerance
- asthenia
- the increased recovery time after physical activity
- edema in the ankles.
Traditional comorbidities such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease are prevalent in misdiagnosed patients with heart failure and more common in women. Sex-related comorbidities such as pregnancy-related disorders and treatments for breast cancer they can mask the condition and contribute to misdiagnosis.
The inability to recognize the symptoms and their underestimation leads women to go to the general practitioner with considerable delay. It is therefore necessary – the experts recommend – to work on the implementation of a personalized treatment path for womenwhich brings together all the essential steps in taking care of a woman with heart failure: from the identification of the woman at risk, especially with the correct evaluation of the symptoms, to a greater sensitivity towards the prevention of heart failure in women with a diagnosis of obesity, diabetes or hypertension, up to the personalization of treatment with an appropriate change in lifestyle.