Did you know that women face unique risk factors for heart disease and stroke at different points in their lives?
That’s because estrogen has a protective effect on women’s heart and brain health, but hormonal levels fluctuate during specific life stages, like:
- Reproductive years: When hormonal contraceptives, fertility treatments and pregnancy-related disorders such as high blood pressure or gestational diabetes can affect a woman’s risk.
- Menopause: When estrogen production lessens, increasing a women’s risk for heart disease and stroke.
- Post-menopause: When the protective factors associated with estrogen are gone, and advancing age poses new risks.
Women are also more strongly impacted by risk factors like high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and physical activity.
While heart disease and stroke are the #1 cause of premature death in women in Canada, 89% of women are unaware of their unique risk factors.
That’s why Heart & Stroke launched a new women’s digital hub that empowers women to become aware of their risks, assess their own unique risks and feel supported to take action by speaking with friends, family and their healthcare providers.
This hub features practical information about:
- Lifestyle-related risk factors you can modify or control, like an unhealthy diet and physical inactivity.
- Non-modifiable risk factors, or risks you cannot control, like your family history or your age.
- Medical risk factors that can lead to heart conditions or stroke, like diabetes and high blood pressure.
Heart & Stroke is committed to ensuring a world where all women receive the care they need when it comes to their heart and brain health. If you’d like to join us in the fight to beat health inequity, please join our team and become one of the Heart & Stroke runners.
Your support will help:
- Fund breakthrough research to better understand women’s unique risk factors for heart disease and stroke and improve women’s health outcomes.
- Raise awareness of women’s heart and brain health, including the inequities they face within the healthcare system, and their unique risk factors.
To learn more about Heart & Stroke’s strategy for improving women’s heart and brain health, visit: https://www.heartandstroke.ca/women/strategy.
