Women and Heart Disease: Myocardial Infarction in Women

Heart disease is the leading cause of death among women in the United States. It is estimated that one in four women die from heart disease every year. Women are at a higher risk for heart disease than men because of a lack of knowledge and information. Women often feel the need to care for others before themselves and neglect their own health needs. As mothers, and sisters, and daughters it is important to protect our health for those that depend on us. Heart disease is preventable through knowledge and awareness and taking precautionary steps.

The most common physiological process leading to a myocardial infarction is the occlusion of coronary arteries by a process known as atherosclerosis. In fact, atherosclerosis is present in more than 90% of persons with coronary heart disease.1

Currently, Heart disease is the leading cause of death among women in the United States (Haskell et al., 2014). In the 2016 Update of the Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics report from the American Heart Association, women, in general, have a 32% prevalence rate for LDL issues vs. 31% for men. Likewise, in older women vs older men, the prevalence for hypertension rates for women were 57% vs. 54% in men (Mozaffarian et al., 2016). Within the VA, there is an even bigger gap for management of LDL’s and heart disease. 79.47% of women vs. 88.89% of men have LDL levels within the normal limits. Similarly, 79.34% of women vs. 85.67% of men with diabetes had an LDL within normal limits (Whitehead et al., 2014). Both high LDL and hypertension are proven risk factors for heart disease and stroke. When paired with diabetes, risk of peripheral artery disease, heart failure, and irregular heartbeat can also be factors (Mozaffarian et al., 2016).

Greeting: Hello Everyone, My name is Shelly Kutschenko and I’m here to talk about Heart disease in women

Cardiovascular disease is a global health problem causing nearly 1 in 3 deaths every year. Many of these deaths are due to coronary heart disease. Myocardial infarction (MI) is a major manifestation of coronary heart disease. In 1959, the World Health Organization defined MI as a combination of 2 of 3 characteristics: typical symptoms, enzyme rise, and a typical electrocardiographic (Patil, 2011).

     Heart attack occurs when a blood clot suddenly and completely blocks a diseased coronary artery, resulting in the death of the heart muscle cells supplied by that artery. Coronary and Coronary Thrombosis 2 are terms that can refer to a heart attack. Another term, Acute Myocardial Infarction 2, means death of heart muscle due to an inadequate blood supply.

Myocardial ischemia occurs in the coronary arteries. It reduces the ability to pump the blood to the heart, which will prevent the heart from getting enough oxygen to work efficiently. According to the Mayo Clinic, “A sudden, severe blockage of a coronary artery can lead to a heart attack.”[1] Myocardial ischemia can cause a severe abnormal heart rhythm, which sometimes leads to death. Myocardial ischemia also is known as ischemic cardiomyopathy. This essay will cover, the causes, risk factors, and lifestyle changes in ischemic cardiomyopathy.

Myocardial Infarction (MI); heart attack affected Circulatory system, the sudden passing of heart muscle due to limited stream of oxygenated blood to the heart muscle; characterized by strongly chest pain, sweating, shortness of breath, or some of the time none of these symptoms. Myocardial areas of dead tissue, superior known as heart attack happen when there are interferences within the blood supplies to the heart and pumps blood from the heart to other vital organs. The heart is an exceedingly specialized muscle whose work is to pump life-sustaining blood to all parts of the body. Its activity includes creating weight to impel blood through arriving and leaving channels veins and arteries that must keep up that weight

The main cause of myocardial infarction is the occlusion of the coronary artery, due to the sudden rupture of an atherosclerotic plaque leading to the formation of a blood clot (coronary thrombosis). The formation of plaque is the result of damage to the endothelium layer of cells, caused by high blood pressure, smoking, or high cholesterol. Over time, an accumulation of cholesterol in the artery wall becomes plaque (Beckerman, 2016). This event can also trigger coronary vasospasm, causing constriction of blood vessels, resulting in severe hypertension. If a vessel is fully occluded, an insufficient amount of oxygen results in tissue death. The damaged tissue is comprised of both a necrotic core and a marginal zone consisting of hypoxic tissue that may generate arrhythmias, abnormal heart rhythms. Infarcted tissue can alter ventricular systolic and diastolic function and disrupt electrical activity within the heart. Inevitably, this tissue forms a fibrotic scar. Long-term consequences include ventricular failure, ventricular remodeling of the remaining myocardium, or sudden death (Klabunde, 2007).

“Myocardial infarction is defined as irreversible necrosis of myocardial tissue as a result of inadequate blood flow for a critical period of time.” (Duksta &Younker, 2012). A MI occurs when cardiac tissue is suddenly deprived of oxygen. “Most MIs are the result of atherosclerosis of a coronary artery, rupture of the plaque, subsequent thrombosis, and occlusion of blood flow” (Ignatavicius & Workman, p. 829, 2013). When there is a blood flow reduction in the heart of 80% to 90%, ischemia occurs, which can be followed by necrosis of cardiac tissue if blood flow is not reestablished.

With a lifelong passion for the sciences, I became interested in adult nurse practitioner cardiologist. Before pursing my education as NP, I lost two important people in my life for heart disease, my father and my fifteen year old daughter. I realized that I enjoyed making a difference in people’s lives and empowering patients to be active participants in his/her own healthcare through education and strong patient –healthcare provider relationship. I feel that I can lead patient to achieving his/her health goals by provide support for the patient at the same time focuses on myocardial infraction (MI) prevention through health promotion by emphasizing lifestyle modifications to enhance overall quality of life.

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a serious issue among women, as it is the number one cause of death of women in the United States of American. Sadly, even though these statistics exist, an insufficient amount of studies has been conducted to determine if women have similar prodromal symptoms that lead to AMIs. The problem is significant; diagnosing CHD has been difficult due to scarce data collection. The review of literature supports the identified problem, because in previous studies, there has not been data collected that has directly linked

Mehta, P. K., Wei, J., & Wenger, N. K. (2015). Ischemic heart disease in women: A focus on risk factors. Trends in Cardiovascular Medicine, 25(2), 140-151. doi: 10.1016/j.tcm.2014.10.005

Myocardial is another term for heart attack. When you break down the word Myocardial here is what it means Myo- pertaining to the muscle, Cardi pertaining to the heart and -al means to pertain to. When you have a heart attack your heart does not stop beating. What a heart attack means is you are getting less oxygen than before. The heart is a muscles and like all of our muscles they require oxygen- rich blood. Sometimes people coronary arteries get blocked which causes blood clots. Signs of Myocardial Infarction (heart attack) is shortness of breath, palpitations(noticeable heart beats) , chest pain, Anxiety and light-headedness or dizziness. You can even become aware of weakness and

As the population ages heart failure is expected to increase exceptionally. About twenty-two percent of men and forty-four percent of women will develop heart failure within six years of having a heart attack. “Thirty years ago patients would have died from their heart attacks!” (Couzens)