TO LOWER YOUR RISK OF HEART DISEASE...

Blood pressure should be below

130/80 hg/mm

Bad cholesterol (LDL) under 100 mg/dl Good cholesterol (HDL) above 45 mg/dl for men and 55 mg/dl for women

Quit smoking and you can halve heart attack risk

Eat a high-fibre diet of vegetables and fruit, whole grains, fish, pulses, legumes, and unsaturated oils (mustard, olive, sunflower, rapeseed)

Exercise briskly for 40 minutes a day Keep your weight in check

‑ SHRISHAILA BHANDARY taking low-dose hormonal contraceptives, the risk rises with age, found the world’s largest ever study of 1.6 million women in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Most South Asian women do not meet the 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity a week recommended by the World Health Organization either.

While more men smoke, hypertension (persistent high blood pressure), diabetes, obesity and family history of heart disease are more common in Indian women, showed data from 6,867 patients at an Ahmedabad hospital.

Women also get sub-optimal treatment, irrespective of age or economic status, found the study, with invasive treatment options such as bypass surgery or stents being used less often to treat women.

Traditional heart function tests such as the treadmill test are also not sensitive enough for women and may give false results, so an early angiography, cardiac CT scans and stress echocardiography are the tests of choice for early diagnosis.

The answer, doctors say, is also to start thinking about heart disease differently.

“Focus on prevention and early diagnosis,” says Dr Seth. “That done, heart disease can be easily managed with prescription medicines to control blood fats, sugar and blood pressure, and a healthy diet.”