Women more prone to heart diseases

While women are more prone to heart diseases, the failure to diagnose the diseases early raises the risk of more women being affected by cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in Oman, said a senior consultant at the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH).

“Cardio-Vascular Disease (CVD) is a silent killer among women; they are more prone because they don’t get critical symptoms of cardiac arrest unlike men,” says Doctor Abdul Hakeem al Hashim, Senior Consultant, Internal Medicine and Critical Care, SQUH.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) statistics reveal the cases of hypertension reported at government hospitals are six per 10,000 and eight per 10,000 for diabetes last year.

According to the doctor, a sedentary lifestyle increases the chances of women getting afflicted by heart diseases.

“Fewer women exercise regularly. The percentage of women visiting a gym is less than that of men,” he told the Observer.

Cardiovascular stress is of grave concern, and the heart beats at a faster rate when he/ she is stressed.

All of these problems could lead to hypertension.” If it goes unchecked, problems such as strokes could happen,” he said.

Dr Al Hashim believes stress is generally due to competition.

Worldwide, coronary heart disease (CHD) is claimed to be the most common type of heart disease and the number one killer of both men and women. Other types of heart disease such as coronary microvascular disease (MVD) and broken heart syndrome also pose risk to women.

CVD, which includes heart disease, hypertension and stroke, is the number one killer of women. Statistics shows it kills half a million women each year.

“Sedentary lifestyle, addiction to TV and other gadgets both in kitchen and otherwise are causing the disease among women. Creating an awareness among women is of critical importance,” he said.