It’s called the silent killer for a reason.
Heart health is a large indicator of overall health and mortality, with heart disease being the leading cause of death for men and women.
But women have been increasingly at risk of dying from one complication over the years, according to new research.
Nearly 1 in 2 Americans has a major risk factor for a host of health problems, including cardiovascular disease that harms the heart and blood vessels — but they don’t know it.
And now a study being presented Mar. 29 at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session has found deaths from high blood pressure have quadrupled among US women.
In one of the first studies to focus on younger women, researchers looked at data from women who died between the ages of 25 and 44 years from hypertensive heart disease.
In 1999, high blood pressure accounted for 1.1 deaths per 100,000. But this number drastically rose to 4.8 per 100,000 deaths by 2023.
More than 29,000 women died from hypertensive heart disease-related death in the 24-year study period.
The study also found distinctions between ethnicity and location, as non-Hispanic Black women had the highest deaths related to high blood pressure at 8.6 per 100,000.
Women in the South also have the highest rate of deaths from heart complications of high blood pressure, at 3.8 per 100,000, compared to 2.8 in the Midwest, 2.2 in the Northeast and 1.9 in the West.
However, no differences were found between women in rural and urban areas.
Many studies have shown that blood pressure-lowering medications are prescribed at lower rates than to men, while heart disease treatment efforts are often focused on menopausal women.
But the research team says their findings reflect an underestimation of cardiovascular risk and missed opportunities for intervention for another vulnerable group.
“This study underscores the urgent need for specific prevention strategies,” lead study author Alexandra Millhuff said in a press release. “We need to be screening patients of this demographic for hypertension more aggressively, and that includes mitigating risk factors and possibly using antihypertensive medications.”
Lifestyle changes such as eating a heart-healthy diet, regular exercise and quitting smoking are the first recommendations to manage high blood pressure.
But too often, younger women don’t regularly see a cardiologist. Despite this, they still face specific cardiovascular risks related to hormonal and other physiological changes that occur during pregnancy and before menopause.
Younger generations can ask their doctors about preventative measures to manage blood pressure, such as regular screenings.
