Women need to take their cardiovascular health more seriously!

In France, 200 women die every day from cardiovascular diseases. However, according to figures, 80% of these deaths could be avoided thanks to early diagnosis and appropriate care. Are we disconnected from reality? Yes, according to a new Withings survey (leader in connected health), which alerts us to the need for awareness.

These cardiovascular diseases, which we do not hear

First glaring observation from this survey: many women are completely unaware of their own cardiovascular risks or do not put them forward in their priorities. So :

• More than 1/3 of women are unaware that it is the leading cause of female mortality;
• 51.5% of women in France do not know the female symptoms of heart attack (nausea, epigastric pain, weakness, fatigue) and would be unable to diagnose it;
• 47% of women do not consult when they experience serious cardiovascular symptoms.

And moreover, even when they feel that something is wrong with their health, 56% of women in France say they put the health of their loved ones before their own.

Hypertension, a silent killer and far too trivialized

A delay in diagnosis particularly concerns hypertension. According to the survey, more than 6 out of 10 hypertensive women are unaware that they are hypertensive and only 20% of them have appropriate and effective treatment.

However, hypertension is the leading cause of cardiovascular pathologies (such as stroke, myocardial infarction, heart failure and fibrillation).. For what ? Because it silently damages the entire cardiovascular system: “In response to the increase in pressure, the heart thickens and the arteries become stiffer, which disrupts the functioning of sensitive organs such as the kidney, heart muscle, or brain, causing death or injury. serious cognitive or motor sequelae.

4 concrete initiatives to develop

At the origin of this study, Withings is launching an alert and calling for progress on 4 concrete initiatives:

1. It is essential that every woman can regularly monitor her blood pressure, at a pace adapted to her risk factors, by self-measurement at home and in real life;
2. There is an urgent need to redefine specific blood pressure recommendations for women in order to better control their risk of cardiovascular complications;
3. We must be vigilant about women’s specific risk factors for hypertension: mental load and stress (cardiovascular risk factors, still too little known to the general public and yet major in women) and hormonal impregnation (particularly at the time of pregnancy, menopause and taking certain hormonal contraceptives);
4. We must raise awareness of the female symptoms of the pathologies to which hypertension leads (in particular the symptoms of heart attack in women: nausea, epigastric pain, fatigue, shortness of breath) and encourage women to consult without delay if they have the slightest doubt.