Dubai Health Authority supports Go Red for Women campaign

(Dubai Health & News) -- The Go Red for Women campaign, which is a global initiative to raise awareness about the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) among women, was held today at the Deira City Centre in Dubai.

Dr Laila Al Jassmi, CEO of Health Policy and Strategy Sector inaugurated the campaign, which is being held for the second consecutive year at Deira City Centre with the support of the Dubai Health Authority. She said, “At the DHA, it is part of our overall health strategy for the Emirate of Dubai to engage the community and make them aware about health issues, especially lifestyle diseases which can be prevented by following a balanced diet and healthy exercise patterns. We are pleased to partner with the Diera City Centre for this initiative as the number of women with cardiovascular disease, highlight the magnitude of this problem.”

As part of the awareness campaign, the DHA will conduct free blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and anthropometry tests. In 2010, almost 1000 women were screened as part of the campaign.

Dr Nooshin Bazargani, Specialist Cardiologist at Dubai Hospital and Head of Emirates Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Group said: “A quarter of all deaths in the UAE are caused by CVD, while globally 35 per cent of women are living with heart disease and yet despite these glaring statistics cardiovascular disease is still considered to be a man’s disease but it causes the death of almost the same number of women as men.”

Dr Bazargani added that of the 17.5 million deaths from cardiovascular disease each year, over 8.6 million are women, more than the total number of women who die from all cancers, tuberculosis, HIV-AIDS and malaria combined.

He also stated: “The most important thing is that most of these deaths could be prevented through awareness.”

Fuad Al Najjar, Vice President of the Deira City Centre said, “Deira City Centre is one of Dubai’s longest-standing and most popular destinations, which gives us a platform to address issues which are important for the community and awareness about disease prevention is key tackle pressing lifestyle diseases.”

Dr. Fahad Omar Ahmed S. Baslaib, Head of Cardiology at Rashid Hospital and President of Emirates Cardiac Society said that the risk factors for women are largely similar to men: family history of CVD, smoking, stress, hypertension, obesity, inactivity, cholesterol and diabetes.

Some factors play a greater role in women than men.

Dr. Arif Abdullatif Al Mulla, Head of Cardiology, Dubai Hospital said: “Diabetic women suffer from the risk of chronic heart disease eight times more than non-diabetic women. In diabetic men the risk is of CDV is only three times more than non-diabetic men.”

In women the combination of oral contraception and consumption of up to 15 cigarettes per day is associated with a 3-5 fold increase in coronary risk, for women who smoke more than 15 cigarettes per day the risk increases by twenty fold.

The post-menopausal state uniquely augments the risks of CVD for women, explaining why the disease usually appears at a later age for women than for men.

Moreover, depression also increases the risk of CDV in women. Depression increases the risk of heart disease by 70%. As twice as many women as men are depressed, this becomes a major risk factor for the sex.

Dr Bazargani said that it is important to analyze the differences to understand the peculiarities of both genders. Dubai is part of the Gulf Race 1 gender analysis study which was conducted in 2009 across six Gulf States to compare men and women who are admitted to the hospital with heart attacks.

The study took place over a period of six months and more than 8000 patients who were admitted to the hospital for heart attacks were analyzed.

The study was the first of its kind study to be conducted in the Middle- East region to analyze the peculiarities of men and women who are admitted to the hospitals with heart disease.

Dr Bazargani said : “The analysis of this registry showed that, in men 50 per cent of the heart attack cases were locals or citizens of that country and 50 per cent were expatriates, whereas in women 80 per cent of the heart attack cases were citizens and 20 per cent were expatriates.

The sub-analysis of the registry showed that overall the incidence of hypertension, diabetes, obesity and high cholesterol is more common in women who were admitted to the hospital with heart attack as compared to men.”

Dr Bazargani said that the study also indicated that the outcome of the heart attack is more eventful in women than in men. “This means women with heart attacks have more complications as compared to men who have heart attacks. Women are more at a risk of bleeding, have a higher risk of heart failure ( weakness of the muscle of the heart) and are more at a risk of death.”

Dr Bazargani said the study found that women are not specific with their complaints and history, when they are admitted to the hospital and therefore the treatment time for women is usually delayed as compared to men. “This is a universal or global observation that there is a discrepancy in the time taken to treat men and women, once they are admitted to the hospital because women are more vague while explaining their symptoms. Therefore, it is most likely that a man will be taken for angioplasty much faster than a woman because men are more specific in describing their exact symptoms.”

Dr Bazarani concluded by saying: “ CDV is very common, very expensive and it is fatal. The message we would like to give our community is - Help us make the No.1 killer of women in the world, women's No.1 health priority.”

The Go Red for Women campaign is taking place at Deira City Centre on 6th, 7th, 13th, and 14th of May and free check ups will take place from 10am to 2pm and 3pm to 8pm.

PRINT THIS ARTICLE