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Hypertension A Health Challenge For Women
Women face unique challenges in keeping their blood pressure under control, and this may help explain why more women than men struggle with uncontrolled blood pressure.
"With only 60 percent of women with high blood pressure having their blood pressure controlled, we have a big problem that can lead to stroke and heart attack," said Dr. Nieca Goldberg, medical director of New York University Medical Center's Women's Heart Program, and a spokeswoman for the "Go Red For Women" campaign. There are several reasons for this problem, Goldberg said. "I think one is that women's needs aren't being met in the doctor's office," she said. "Doctors have to pay more attention to women's blood pressure." Also, women need to be informed about what their optimal blood pressure should be, Goldberg said. "Their optimal pressure should be less than 120/80 mmHg. By reducing blood pressure from 140/90 mmHg to 120/80 mmHg, you cut stroke risk in half and heart attack risk by 25 percent," she said. That's just one of a series of conclusions based on studies published in a special issue of the journal Hypertension. The issue commemorates the fifth anniversary of the American Heart Association's "Go Red For Women" campaign, which is designed to focus awareness of heart-disease risks for women. Heart disease is the leading killer of women and men in the United States, and high blood pressure is a major contributor to such problems as heart attack and stroke. A number of studies in the journal, which was published Feb. 8, focused on high blood pressure associated with pregnancy. One in 10 pregnancies is complicated by high blood pressure. Women with high blood pressure are especially prone to developing preeclampsia during pregnancy. Among women with preeclampsia, 48 percent are likely to deliver low birth-weight babies, and 51 percent are likely to have pre-term infants, researchers found. And smoking can increase the risks that occur with preeclampsia, but stopping smoking can reduce those risks, British researchers found.
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