Heart of a woman
published 17 November 2008
To most of us, the phrase “women's health” may immediately bring to mind conditions pertaining to the female reproductive system. There's pregnancy and childbirth, breast cancer, cervical cancer and other similar afflictions distinct to the female sex.
That's not altogether wrong, either. These concerns do fall under women's health, as delivered quite successfully by the many campaigns advocating safe childbirth and the cure and prevention of certain afflictions.
The Philippine Heart Association's Council on Women's Cardiovascular Health wants to duplicate the success of such awareness campaigns. After all, heart and vascular diseases comprise 18.4 percent and 13.8 percent, respectively, of the cause of female deaths in the country, according to 2004 data of the National Statistics Office. That's killers number 1 and 2 on the list.
While women are less likely to acquire cardio-vascular diseases during their reproductive years because they are protected by estrogen hormones, they become equally susceptible to such diseases after menopause, when the estrogen in their systems becomes depleted. This tendency is aggravated by an unhealthy lifestyle, either out of resistance or ignorance. Hence, among older men and women, cardio-vascular diseases have a near-similar prevalence level. Philippine health statistics show that among deaths caused by cardio-vascular diseases, 50.8 percent occur in men while 49.2 percent occur in women.
So if you think heart disease is essentially a male thing, think again.
In last Friday's media briefing on the launch of Mabuhay Ka, Pusong Pinay, Dr. Milagros Yamamoto, council chairman, narrates an all-too common story of a couple coming to see her to consult about Husband's symptoms. Wife is there as mere companion. As Doctor and Husband discuss the symptoms and possible conditions that may arise from these, Wife realizes she has been feeling something is wrong with her, too. She tells this to Doctor, who encourages her to take some tests so they can work on her as well. But Wife demurs. “Saka na lang ho (some other time),” she says. “Let's focus on my husband first.”
Yamamoto's anecdotes are supported by facts. Up until recently, women have been excluded from lipid-altering tests, which gauge the effectiveness of treatment for cardio-vascular diseases. This means that even though there is an equal number of male and female patients, it is the men who get exposed to testing and treatment first. Yamamoto and the rest of the council (which, by the way, is the brainchild of former PHA president, now Social Welfare and Development Secretary Esperanza Cabral) feels it is time to correct the myths which do nothing but increase risks for wives, mothers and grandmothers out there.
“It is time to close the gap between reality and perception,” she says.
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Nobody is powerless against cardio-vascular diseases, really. They are preventable, if there is adequate information on both cure and prevention made available to both men and women. But since it appears that women have been second priority in this fight, some catching up needs to be done.
So what does a woman need to do?
“When a woman is pushing 50 or is in the peri-menopausal stage, she should see a doctor for risk assessment and may undergo the following tests: lipid profile (for cholesterol levels), fasting blood sugar, blood pressure monitoring and ECG to rule out cardio-vascular diseases,” says the council's campaign kit. The hand-out offers a checklist, too. It’s called “Am I female, (over) fifty and fat?” Doesn’t quite sound like “thirty, flirty and thriving” from the chick flick “13 going on 30,” to be sure, but it definitely ticks, nonetheless.
And if you're a man reading this, it's best if you suggest this course of action to your mother, grandmother, wife, in-law, colleague, boss, neighbor, friend – any woman you just may happen to care about.
The council has lined up activities for this campaign. At seven in the evening this Thursday, November 20, at the Manila Polo Club, there will be a dinner-cum-entertainment fund-raiser called “Plate it for Women's Sake.”
For details, you may visit the Web site www.philheart.org. The Council's headquarters is located at the 5th Floor of president Tower, 81 Timog Avenue, Quezon City. Contact numbers are 929-1161 and 929-1166.
