Types of Cardiovascular Disease
Cardiovascular disease includes a variety of disorders of the heart and blood vessels, several of which can lead to heart attack or stroke.
Various types of cardiovascular disease and how they relate to women’s health:
- coronary heart disease – disease of the blood vessels supplying the heart muscle, also known as hardening of the arteries
Almost two-thirds of the women who die suddenly of coronary heart disease have no previous symptoms. (Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics – 2011 Update: A Report From the American Heart Association, p. e69)
- arrhythmia – abnormal or irregular heart beat
The incidence of arrhythmia (such as atrial fibrillation or heart flutter) is lower in women than men. (Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics – 2011 Update, p. e123)
- hypertensive heart disease – associated with high blood pressure
Until age 45, higher percentages of men have hypertension than women. Between ages 45 and 64, the percentages of men and women with hypertension are similar. After 65, higher percentages of women have hypertension than men. (Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics – 2011 Update, page e101)
- cerebrovascular disease (commonly known as stroke) – disease of the blood vessels supplying the brain
- ischemic stroke is when a blood vessel supplying the brain is blocked
- hemorrhagic stroke is when a blood vessel within the brain bursts
Before age 75, a higher proportion of cardiovascular disease events due to stroke occur in women than in men, and a higher proportion of cardiovascular disease events due to coronary heart disease occur in men than in women. (Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics – 2011 Update, page e35)
- heart failure and congestive heart failure – when the heart is not pumping blood as well as it should, and the body’s need for blood and oxygen is not sufficiently met
Depression is frequently associated with heart failure and is more common in women than men. (Journal of the American College of Cardiology, May 5, 2004, pp. 1542-1549)
