Clinical & Experimental Cardiology
Open Access
ISSN: 2155-9880
+44 1300 500008
ISSN: 2155-9880
+44 1300 500008
Margaret Aranda
Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Clin Exp Cardiolog
The number 1 of death in America is Heart Disease (HD). One person dies every 6 seconds. In America, 2009 studies showed the average life expectancy of a man was 72.2 years. For American women, life expectancy that same year was 79.3 years. In contrast, the 2013 life expectancy of a man was 76.2 years (i.e., 4.6 years gain); for a woman, it was 81.3 years (i.e., 2.7 year gain). What happened to relatively shorten a woman?s lifespan? First, why are men doing better at longevity? Men are: Smoking less, avoiding obesity, and being treated for MI, hypertension and hypercholesterolemia. Women are: more likely to die due to undiagnosed HD, less likely to seek care for HD, and take cardiac medications irregularly. The American Heart Association admits that heart disease is ?often? undiagnosed and untreated in women, and that the risk factor awareness still needs improvement. Gina Lundberg, MD, national spokesperson for the American Heart Association, states ?women seeking doctors for HD; and many doctors don?t treat their symptoms as aggressively as they do in men. They?ll say you have an upset stomach or send you home.? Obesity, smoking, and alcohol are killing us. If a woman smokes and has an MI, she is likely to delay her care. She won?t get the same treatment as a man; she is more likely to go into congestive heart failure, shock, and death. Other variables include the city of residence, ethnicity, and education (except for Latinas, the ?Hispanic paradox?).