Women warned of heart risk

HEART attacks and strokes kill twice as many woman than all cancers combined, a medical expert warned yesterday.

Yet they are more aware of the risks of other diseases, such as breast cancer.

A conference, hosted in Dublin by the Women’s Health Council and the Department of Health, was held yesterday to raise awareness around issues of disadvantage and cardiovascular disease in women.

Professor Shah Ebrahim from Bristol University said around 40% of all deaths in women in Ireland in 2002 were due to diseases of the circulation compared with about a quarter of all deaths caused by cancer. Fewer than 5% of all deaths were from breast cancer.

“Although many women feel more threatened by the chances of getting breast cancer, far more will die from a heart attack,” the professor of social medicine warned.

Prof Ebrahim also presented data showing women who have more than two children were more likely to develop heart disease in later life.

Chair of the Women’s Health Council, Professor Cecily Kelleher, said the prevalence of heart disease in women had been understated. She said there was an “erroneous perception of the condition as a male phenomenon”.

One in 10 women will develop breast cancer, whereas one in two will die of cardiovascular disease.

It was also well established that heart disease was more common among disadvantaged women.

“The better off people are, the less likely they are to develop heart disease,” Dr Kelleher said.

Given widening gap in Irish society, this was now a major issue, she warned.

“Part of the problem is that we don’t have robust data to measure the problem. All the evidence I have from my own research and work done by Dr Eamon O’Shea in NUI Galway in relation to death certification information indicates that there is a clear gap in circulatory disease patterns,” Prof Kelleher said.

There was evidence, that birth weight was an independent predictor of heart disease in later life, she said. Early growth patterns played a crucial role in adult health so it was important that good maternity and child health services were maintained.