Women Stress And Heart Disease

The issue of women's health has long been neglected. This applies to many medical areas, but it has become most evident in the field of cardiology. For a long time, cardiology has been a medical specialty which seemed to be created for men, by men--particularly in research, but also in intensive clinical care units where male patients have been most visible and dominating. Furthermore, the clinical cardiologists--their doctors--have been predominantly male. It is easy to understand that most women think they will die from cancer rather than from heart disease, but this is not true. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women as it is for men. Female patients are frequently encountered in the cardiology department, but they are older and seem to get less visibility and attention than the male patients. Research on risk factors for heart disease has also been almost entirely focused on men. This is true for psychosocial/behavioral aspects of cardiovascular risk. Aiming to fill this gap, this volume contains contributions from outstanding international and national researchers from different fields such as sociology, psychology, epidemiology, cardiology, clinical medicine, and physiology. These professionals gathered together for an interdisciplinary seminar on women, stress, and heart disease held at the Swedish Society of Medicine. Based on the seminar, this book provides a solid foundation for empirically based scientific conclusions on this important subject.

The issue of women's health has long been neglected. This applies to many medical areas, but it has become most evident in the field of cardiology. For a long time, cardiology has been a medical specialty which seemed to be created for men, by men--particularly in research, but also in intensive clinical care units where male patients have been most visible and dominating. Furthermore, the clinical cardiologists--their doctors--have been predominantly male. It is easy to understand that most women think they will die from cancer rather than from heart disease, but this is not true. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women as it is for men. Female patients are frequently encountered in the cardiology department, but they are older and seem to get less visibility and attention than the male patients. Research on risk factors for heart disease has also been almost entirely focused on men. This is true for psychosocial/behavioral aspects of cardiovascular risk. Aiming to fill this gap, this volume contains contributions from outstanding international and national researchers from different fields such as sociology, psychology, epidemiology, cardiology, clinical medicine, and physiology. These professionals gathered together for an interdisciplinary seminar on women, stress, and heart disease held at the Swedish Society of Medicine. Based on the seminar, this book provides a solid foundation for empirically based scientific conclusions on this important subject.

Not long ago, it was assumed that coronary heart disease mainly--or only--affected men. Now that CHD is recognized as a leading killer of women as well as men, numerous research studies have been made of its diverse presentations in women, causal factors, and possibilities for prevention and treatment. The expert contributions to Psychosocial Stress and Cardiovascular Disease in Women span the results of this cross-disciplinary awareness. This progressive resource takes a three-dimensional approach to its subject, focusing on epidemiology and risk factors for heart disease in women, the psycho- and neurobiology of stress and coronary disease, and promising clinical interventions. Chapters identify and analyze multiple intersections of social, biological, and psychological factors in affecting women's heart health, from the social dimensions of depression to genetic/environmental interactions to the demands of balancing work and family. These wide-ranging findings will assist and motivate professionals in choosing and creating interventions, developing appropriate prevention strategies, and reducing gender-based disparities in health care. Among the topics covered: Enhancing women's heart health: a global perspective. Coronary heart disease in women: evolution of our knowledge. Gender observations on basic physiological stress mechanisms in men and women. Sleep as a means of recovery and restitution in women. LifeSkills training: benefiting both genders, for different reasons. Gender considerations in psychosocial-behavioral interventions for coronary heart disease. In particular this book will be helpful for cardiologists and other clinicians who may ask themselves why patients do not seem to make rational choices. "Why do patients not follow the advice they are offered?" is a common complaint. The role of psychosocial stress for patient compliance and adherence can be traced throughout the volume. It is emphasized in the chapters on psychosocial interventions along with other tangible and conceptual suggestions and experiences with psychosocial stress and life style change. Psychosocial Stress and Cardiovascular Disease in Women offers a deep practical level of understanding of this epidemic to help expand the work of health and clinical psychologists, sociologists, cardiologists, primary care physicians, and epidemiologists.

Recently, there has been a growing awareness of the multiple interrelationships between depression and various physical diseases. Patients with psychiatric problems, particularly depression, may be more susceptible to cardiovascular disorders. Depression and Heart Disease synthesizes current evidence, including some previously unpublished data, in a concise, easy-to-read format. The authors succinctly describe the epidemiology, pathogenesis (including cytokines and genetics), and risk factors of the comorbidity between depression and heart disease. The book also reviews the best pharmacological and psychotherapeutic approaches for people with this comorbidity.

Despite being one of the world's biggest killers of women, heart disease is under-diagnosed, under-treated, and under-managed. Why? What is going wrong? Important and ground-breaking, Women and Heart Disease brings our attention to the inadequacies in both the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease in women. Key features: * written by Nanette Wenger and Peter Collins, two of the worlds leading cardiologists * contributions from leaders in women‘s cardiac health * covers all aspects of cardiovascular disease, not just coronary artery disease * fully updated. Building on the success of the best-selling first edition, this is essential reading for all physicians with a particular interest in women and heart disease.

Annotation This book addresses one major question: Why do men get more heart disease than women? Recent global trends in heart disease show that traditional coronary risk factors, such as elevated blood pressure and cholesterol are poor candidates in explaining the gender gap in heart disease. Changes in these risk factors also cannot explain the recent cardiovascular disease epidemic among middle-aged men in Eastern Europe. This book will focus on environmental, behavioral, and psychosocial variables, as well as new risk factors of a biological nature in an attempt to understand the gender gap in heart disease. It combines perspectives from numerous disciplines, such as demography, epidemiology, medicine, sociology, and psychology. This book features the work of a distinguished group of international researchers appearing in Richard Stone's report on "Stress: the invisible hand in Eastern Europe's death rates" (Science, vol. 288, June 9, 2000, pp. 1732-33). It combines perspectives from numerous disciplines, such as demography, epidemiology, medicine, nutrition, sociology, and psychology to explore the environmental, behavioral, and psychosocial influences on men's greater susceptibility to heart disease

WINNER OF THE BOOKS FOR A BETTER LIFE AWARD One out of every two women will die of heart disease. It is the single greatest health risk for women today–more than stroke and all cancers combined. In the course of her practice, and as chief of Women’s Cardiac Care at New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital, Dr. Nieca Goldberg has come to a startling realization: Women experience heart disease in a fundamentally different way than men do. The physiology of a woman’s heart attack is not the same as a man’s, the symptoms of heart disease and signs of impending heart attack differ for women, and once heart disease has been recognized, women often do not get the treatment and medications they require. Now here are detailed, age-specific programs that give women the facts and the guidance they need to recognize, treat, and prevent heart disease, including • how you can rate your risk of heart disease • the effects of menopause on your heart • risk factors you can change–starting today • a heart-healthy exercise plan that works for you • a complete guide to heart-healthy supplements • the truth about hormone replacement therapy and the heart • recovering from a heart attack or surgery Authoritative, caring, and up-to-the-minute, this is the women’s health book for the new millennium.

The main aim of this book is to evaluate the concept of stress and provide tools for physicians to identify patients who might benefit from stress management. This will incorporate a detailed description of the physiological and pathophysiological consequences of acute and chronic stress that might lead to cardiovascular disease. The book will aim to critically evaluate interventional research (behavioural and other therapies) and provide evidence based recommendations on how to manage stress in the cardiovascular patient. Our intentions are to define and highlight stress as an etiological factor for cardiovascular disease, and to describe an evidence based "tool box" that physicians may use to identify and manage patients in whom stress may be an important contributing factor for their disease and their risk of suffering cardiovascular complications.