The Biggest Secrets About Women And Heart Disease
A short and insightful quiz regarding women and heart disease. The quiz tests women's knowledge of heart disease and provides important facts and answers for those at risk.
(PRWEB) February 22, 2005
Your chest feels tight. You’re finding it hard to breathe. You don’t know whether you’re going to be sick or pass out—or both. Are you having a heart attack? Heart disease claims about 500,000 women’s lives a year in the United States—nearly one death every minute. Most heart attacks and heart-related deaths occur in women over age 65, but each year more than 9,000 women under age 45 suffer a heart attack. Are you about to become the next victim? Do you know the signs? What can you do to prevent a heart attack?
Test your knowledge of heart disease by taking this quiz. The answers might urge you to implement a few good changes in your life. Live longer!
1. Heart disease is the leading killer of men. The following is the leading killer of women:
(A) Stroke (B) Breast cancer (C) Heart disease (D) Ovarian cancer
2. Women and men suffer similar symptoms when it comes to heart attacks, including angina (squeezing chest pain), unusual fatigue, shortness of breath and nausea.
(A) True (B) False
3. At the first sign of a heart attack, you should:
(A) Chew and swallow acetaminophen (Tylenol) (B) Lie down with your hands above your head (C) A and B (D) None of the above
4. Which of the following are risk factors you can change:
(A) Hypertension and high cholesterol (B) Diabetes (C) A and B (D) None of the above
Answers:
1. C. Heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women. Fewer than half of American women, however, are aware that heart disease, not breast cancer, is their greatest health threat.
2. False. Women are more likely to experience atypical symptoms and may not have the classic chest pain. Instead, they may experience only shortness of breath or fatigue upon exertion. These atypical symptoms may go largely unnoticed by a busy, overworked woman.
3. D. First, get help by calling 911. Then chew and swallow a whole aspirin (unless allergic to it), and get to a hospital immediately.
4. C. Age and a family history of heart disease are two risk factors you cannot change, but high blood pressure and cholesterol can be controlled through diet, exercise and drugs when necessary. Diabetes can also be controlled to reduce your risk of heart disease. An estimated 45 percent of diabetic women develop significant coronary heart disease. Other risk factors you can change include smoking, obesity and physical inactivity.
Journalists: For more information or to receive a complimentary subscription to The Johns Hopkins Medical Letter “Health After 50”—a thoroughly researched, monthly newsletter specifically for people over 50—contact Mary Ellen Gross, 858-456-0707, sizzle@connectnet. com. This expert source is by the internationally known doctors from Johns Hopkins—the #1 medical institution in the country (as named by U. S. News and World Report for 15 consecutive years). This unique advisory provides readers with information in the areas that affect so many adults past the age of 50, including urology, gynecology, otolaryngology, geriatrics, cancer, ophthalmology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, and rheumatology—tools that will them remain healthy, active and alert far longer than ever before. www. hopkinsafter50.com.
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