Into the FRAY

A guide to the most common health problems that affect women

- TANYA MEESON

They say forewarned is forearmed. Knowing what health risks are most associated with the female body might help you better avoid some unpleasant shocks down the line.

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

It doesn’t just affect men, and it’s not pretty news. It might surprise you to learn that cardiovascular disease (CVD), the cause of heart attacks and strokes, is actually the leading cause of death for women globally. According to 2019 data released by The Lancet Commission on Women and Cardiovascular Disease, around 275 million women globally are living with CVD, with seven million dying from it annually. In South Africa, the reality is equally grim. The Heart and Stroke Foundation South Africa says that in SA, ‘The proportion of CVD deaths in women aged between 35–59 years is one and a half times more likely than that of women in the United States’, and that women aged 55 years and younger ‘are more likely than men to die within a year of their first heart attack’.

The figures for strokes aren’t better. Women face a higher risk of suffering a stroke than men and, alarmingly, the symptoms we associate with stroke – sudden numbness, drooping in the face, weakness down one side of the body – don’t always present in women, who may only feel deeply exhausted, nauseous and confused.