Women's Reproductive Health Decides The Cardiovascular Risk: See How

As a woman gets near her menopause, the levels of estrogen start to fall. The hormone has many protective functions such as cholesterol regulation.

Conventional health factors like high cholesterol, hypertension and obesity are often associated with cardiovascular diseases in people. However, it might be interesting to know that in a woman's body, there are specific reproductive factors that might affect their cardiovascular health. Studies are showing that factors like early periods, menopause and other hormonal problems might determine the risk of developing cardiac diseases along with other popularly recognized factors.

As per experts, the hormonal changes occurring during and reproductive cycle of a woman can affect their cardiovascular health to a great extent. The existing notion that women have a lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease only holds true up till menopause. The reason for this is the female reproductive hormone estrogen which has a protective cardiac function in women. Once the hormone starts dipping during and after menopause, women might surpass men when it comes to heart disease risk.

Reproductive roller coaster and cardiac health

As per reports, getting periods as early as before 12 years of age is associated with adiposity, obesity and metabolic syndrome. It has been associated with an increased risk of coronary artery disease.

As per studies, the greater the number of live births in a woman's reproductive span, the higher the risk of having elevated body mass index (BMI), increased blood pressure, and high total cholesterol and triglycerides. As per experts, the physiological changes a woman might go during pregnancy cause the body to be in a more inflammatory state and increase blood clotting. Other conditions like PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) and preeclampsia (pregnancy-induced hypertension) can also increase the cardiovascular risk by many folds.

As a woman gets near her menopause, the levels of estrogen start to fall. The hormone has many protective functions such as cholesterol regulation. It promotes the formation of good cholesterol and as per studies, estrogen also has an effect on the immune system, further decreasing the danger posed by the deposition of bad cholesterol. After menopause, women lose the protective functions of estrogen. They accumulate more belly fat, high triglycerides and high bad cholesterol. There might be a dramatic shift in their lipid profile after the reproductive cycle hits a pause.

As per experts, after menopause a woman's arteries become thicker and stiffer and a woman becomes more prone to hypertension and artery disorders.

Diagnosis is a problem

As per a study, in America a woman while visiting an emergency room and who complained of chest pain had to wait an average of 11 minutes longer to see a doctor or nurse than men who complained of similar symptoms. Women were less likely to be admitted to the hospital, they received less thorough evaluations and they were less likely to be administered tests like an electrocardiogram, or EKG, which can detect cardiac problems.