Best Docs Network Magazine Summer 2013 | Page 26

Gender’ s Role in America’ s

Top 10 Health Risks

Heart Disease
8.6 million women die from heart disease every year. Smoking and mental stress affect women’ s hearts more than men’ s. Did you know heart attacks are twice as fatal for women than men?
Mental Health
Estrogen is known to help fight memory loss. after menopause, women’ s estrogen’ s levels drop causing women to be more susceptible to contracting alzheimer’ s disease.
where the body stores fat plays a vital role in developing heart disease. Men are more likely to store fat in their abdominal area. extra abdominal fat also contributes to high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type ii diabetes.
while alzheimer’ s is more prevalent in women, mental health issues are the primary cause of suicide in older men. Men’ s suicide risk peaks in their 20s, and later in his 60s and 70s.
Cancer
Studies show women who have had their ovaries surgically removed before menopause are at a higher risk for developing lung cancer. Cancer is responsible for 22.2 % of deaths every year.
Unintentional Injuries
Falling is a large cause for concern in older women, diagnosed with osteoporosis more frequently. also, the rate of poisoning deaths increased 230 % from ages 45- 64 compared to men of the same age.
Stroke
Much like cancer, alcohol and cigarette consumption greatly increase one’ s risk for having a stroke. Cutting out smoking and getting in some exercise will significantly cut down your chances of inducing a stroke.
while women aren’ t as likely to suffer from a stroke, it is twice as likely that the stroke will be fatal. according to the american Stroke association, birth control pills increase a women’ s risk for a stroke.
CLRD
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of accidental deaths in men. the keys to prevention are obvious: 1) wear your seat belt 2) Don’ t drink and drive 3) Don’ t text and drive. Men are three and a half times more likely to be charged with reckless driving than women.
Chronic lower respiratory Disease is responsible for 5.9 % of women’ s deaths every year, 80 % of these are from smoking. ClrD and asthma are twice as common in women than men.
When sex-specific cancers are excluded, men are 67 % more likely to die from cancer. Specific reasons have not been found, but men’ s social habits such as drinking and smoking rates play a vital role in developing lung and kidney cancer.
Similarly, ClrD is the cause of 5.3 % of deaths in men. Smoking once again is the primary cause, but the second leading cause is exposure to chemicals. also, wash your hands regularly to avoid catching the flu and pneumonia.
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