Heart researchers Female hearts are much more sensitive to stress

Women's hearts suffer differently and are more susceptible to stress
The hearts of women are particularly sensitive to stress in everyday life, reports the Medical University of Vienna on the occasion of International Women's Day. "While men have died of heart attacks less and less frequently over the past twenty years, the risk of death has increased significantly, especially for younger women," continued the MedUni Vienna report. Also, women in a heart attack would have different symptoms than men and the death rate was also significantly higher.

According to the MedUni Vienna, Gender Medicine has already shown that women have a different heart attack from men than men. Recent studies have also revealed that "stress in everyday life on women's hearts has a particularly unfavorable effect." It has long been known that women tick medically different than men. For acute relief, Alexandra Kautzky-Willer, Professor of Gender Medicine at the MedUni Vienna, recommends actively integrating recovery phases into everyday life and ensuring that there is sufficient physical activity to relieve stress.

Women show an increased risk of heart attack during psychosocial stress. (Image: Kzenon / fotolia.com)

Heart attack often varies between women and men
According to the MedUni Vienna, the different symptoms of heart attack in women and men "affect the correct recognition of symptoms as well as the appropriate therapeutic measures." For example, misdiagnosis can often occur in women because their body very often has other symptoms Alarm signals send as the male. This may be one of the reasons why in women the heart attack ends more often fatal. According to the MedUni Vienna, "cardiovascular diseases are the most common cause of death in women over the age of 65 years and in men over the age of 45", and "47% of women and 38% of men die from cardiovascular diseases each year." Responsible for the higher mortality rate among women are "known risk factors such as smoking, increased blood lipids, low HDL cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, stomach fat and lack of exercise." Most of them would have a more dramatic effect on women than on men, according to MedUni Vienna.

Women's specific risks for a heart attack
In addition, some women-specific risks such as irregular cycles, an early menopause, pregnancy complications such as gestational diabetes or pregnancy poisoning, the pill or hormone replacement therapies, are explained by the experts. In addition, women in cardiovascular diseases more often have diabetes as an underlying disease, which increases the risk of heart attack more clearly than in men. After menopause, blood pressure generally rises and blood lipids and body fat distribution tend to change unfavorably, which also adds to the risk, the MedUni continues.

Psychosocial stress increasingly affects women's hearts
"Women have a different age distribution in cardiovascular diseases, other clusters of risk factors and vascular changes in the heart are morphologically different," says Alexandra Kautzky-Willer. In addition, the diagnosis and therapy is often more difficult, because studies such as ECG or ergometry remained less meaningful and even the heart attack blood markers could be improved in women by new specific limits and new gender-specific biomarkers are established, explains Kautzky-Willer. In addition, according to the expert, the influence of psychosocial stress on women's heart health has been underestimated so far. "The multiple burden of work, household and home care of relatives causes stress symptoms that can manifest organically in the heart," reports the MedUni Vienna. Studies have shown that migrant women in particular are at high risk for cardiovascular diseases. "In addition to obesity and diabetes, post-traumatic stress disorders also play a greater role here," says Kautzky-Willer.

Schedule recovery periods
In order to avoid the stress for the heart, according to Kautzky-Willer recovery periods should be actively incorporated into everyday life and sufficient physical activity should be exercised. Wellness and stress reduction programs, such as those offered in women's health centers, are also helpful here. Studies have found that "women are actually relieved of such treatments as relaxation therapies, massages, etc., and have better scores after such treatment." In addition, the expert was in favor of setting up more outpatient services in the rehabilitation area Women after surgery and illnesses would tend to refrain from taking rehabilitation care out of concern for neglecting their household. (Fp)