With the woman

Heart attacks among women are becoming more and more frequent in Germany and are now among the main causes of death. One reason for this seems to be that women react differently to medication due to their different hormone balance and physical condition. For example, the frequently prescribed drug acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) for thinning the blood and thus preventing a heart attack apparently has a much weaker effect on women than on men.

The different structures of the heart vessels in men and women could also be related to this. Basic risk factors for cardiovascular diseases are also considered to be causes of heart attacks in women, such as obesity, high blood pressure (hypertension), lack of exercise or diabetes mellitus. In addition, the proportion of women who smoke is increasing.

Substances from tobacco smoke promote processes that lead to vascular calcification, so smoking is one of the indirect causes of heart attacks. In addition, the blood vessels and especially the coronary arteries constrict when smoking every cigarette, so that the heart is less well supplied with oxygen and the risk of a heart attack increases. Taking female sex hormones (e.g. birth control pill, contraceptive patch, vaginal ring) can also be a cause of a heart attack.

However, the risk of a heart attack is considered very low and can be further reduced by taking precautions (do not smoke at the same time, do not take the pill if you are very overweight or have a known tendency to thrombosis). Between the ages of 45 and 50, heart attacks occur significantly more frequently in men than in women.This seems to be due to the fact that in women the susceptibility to heart attacks only increases sharply after menopause, since the female sex hormone estrogen “protects” women from heart attacks until menopause. The classic risk factors for a heart attack in men are still smoking, diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure (hypertension), high cholesterol levels, lack of exercise, obesity and stress. These factors can be the cause of coronary heart disease (CHD), in which the heart is poorly supplied with oxygen and the risk of a heart attack increases. The more factors a person has, the greater the risk of having a heart attack.