Heart attacks in younger women see alarming rise: three ways to lower the risk of having one

Weight issues, acute or chronic stress, diabetes, and high blood pressure among the causes of rise in women aged 35 to 54 treated in hospital for cardiac arrest

Exercise, mindfulness and meditation can lower blood pressure and stress; being open with your doctor about anxiety and depression can also help you relax

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A new study has revealed an alarming increase in heart attacks in younger women. Photo: Alamy

Published: 8:45pm, 24 May 2019Updated: 8:45pm, 24 May 2019

Younger women are experiencing an alarming increase in heart attacks. According to research published last autumn in the American Heart Association journal Circulation, women aged 35 to 54 accounted for 31 per cent of hospital admissions for heart attacks in 2014, up from 21 per cent in 1995.

Though heart disease is often seen as a male problem, heart attacks during the same period of time decreased for younger men, the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Survei llance study reported. In addition, among the younger people treated in hospital for heart attacks, a greater percentage of women than men had a history of high blood pressure: 71 per cent compared with 64 per cent of the men.

The report called for increased efforts to address the traditional risk factors younger women face, such as high blood pressure and diabetes. It also recommended a team-based approach – including clinicians, nutritionists, social workers and health counsellors – to address non-traditional risk factors such as poverty and psychosocial stressors. These factors have a higher prevalence among women, said Melissa Caughey, senior author of the study and instructor in cardiology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

Stress can affect heart health because the brain does not know the difference between the physical and mental varieties, said Elizabeth Piccione, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre and cardiologist with the UPMC Magee-Womens Heart Programme. Both kinds of stress cause a spike in the hormones adrenaline and cortisol and a rise in heart rate and blood pressure. Studies have linked both acute and chronic stress to heart attacks, she said.

Women aged 35 to 54 accounted for 31 per cent of hospital admissions for heart attacks in 2014, up from 21 per cent in 1995, research by American Heart Association journal Circulation says. Photo: Alamy

In a heart attack, the membrane separating a build-up of plaque from the rest of an artery ruptures, attracting platelets that then form a clot and block the artery. Plaque ruptures are thought to be influenced by outside factors including the chemical changes that occur with acute and chronic stress. Chronic stress over many years will increase the risk of heart attack.