Death of women from heart disease needs to drop 30% by 2030, doctors say

Female mortality from heart disease needs to be reduced by a third by 2030 in Brazil, according to a medical entity.

For this, risk factor prevention measures, as well as awareness campaigns for the lay public and training of health professionals, especially in primary care, must be implemented urgently.

These are the main conclusions of a position published this Thursday (13) by the Brazilian Society of Cardiology (SBC) on cardiovascular health in women. The letter and the positions of the SBC board were presented at the Brazilian Congress of Cardiology, in Rio de Janeiro.

The Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, former president of SBC, will participate in the opening ceremony, when the position will be officially presented to the minister.

The expectation is that this new document will define guidelines for the prevention and treatment of heart disease in women in the public and private health networks in the country.

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in men and women from illness in Brazil, according to DataSUS data. For women, heart disease has a higher mortality than all types of cancer.

Among the main types of cardiovascular diseases in women are ischemic heart disease (infarction) and stroke, whose mortality is higher in women than in men.

Although the prevalence of heart disease has increased in recent years in both men and women, until 2011 it was higher in women than in men. However, in recent years, the number of heart attacks in young women between 35 and 54 years has increased, with an increase in risk factors also in this population, such as obesity, hypertension and diabetes.

Also according to the SBC, there are specific female factors, such as menopause and diseases related to pregnancy, especially teenage pregnancy, with an increased risk of maternal and baby complications.

According to Celi Santos Marques, one of the organizers of the text and a member of the Society’s Department of Women’s Cardiology, the risk of death in women is higher than in men when they have cardiovascular disease.

“A woman should not get sick. If she gets sick, the scientific literature tells us that she will have a disease with a higher risk of morbidity and mortality [agravamento das condições com risco à morte]so it is necessary to treat and prevent the risk factors”, he says.

In addition, an additional factor that has been included in this edition of the guide concerns burnout syndrome, which was more prevalent in women during the pandemic than in men.

According to the note, women feel more burdened with double working hours, which contributes to the high rates of burnout in this population. One of the preventive measures would be to improve women’s mental health care, with the identification of symptoms of anxiety and depression, which can improve quality of life and reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Hormonal factors, such as the greater presence in women of the so-called Takotsubo syndrome, caused by estrogen deficiency and which can lead to post-menopausal heart attacks, also generate greater concern for heart disease in this age group, although there is no evidence that hormone replacement have an impact on reducing this risk.

Gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, being overweight and the higher rate of hypertension in women, especially in black and socially vulnerable women, also shows the social inequality of heart disease in Brazil.

In the new document presented by SBC, experts recommend improving primary health care as the main form of prevention, with guidance for community health workers to address aspects of women’s health that can lead to increased risk of cardiovascular disease, such as pre -natal, cholesterol control, obesity and diabetes and hypertension.

Regina Coeli Marques de Carvalho, member cardiologist, women’s health must be understood in the singularity of the female sex. “You have to take into account factors that are quality of life, burden and the woman’s psychology to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease,” she said.