Shortness of breath, irregular heartbeats, difficulty exercising, and swollen legs, ankles, or feet; are these symptoms familiar to you? If so, pay close attention; they could be a sign that you have heart failure, a disease in which the heart cannot send blood to the body adequately.
Other symptoms can be added to the symptoms described, such as a constant cough when breathing, a swollen stomach, rapid weight gain due to fluid retention, nausea, lack of appetite, and difficulty concentrating or being alert.
High blood pressure or past heart attacks can cause the disease
The most common cause is having had a heart problem, perhaps a heart attack; High blood pressure, heart valve problems, or having an inflamed heart also play a role. Other things that could trigger heart failure include diabetes, some diabetes medicines, alcohol, trouble breathing while sleeping, smoking, obesity, and some viruses, in addition to heart problems.
According to Dr. Mauricio Chaves, Bayer’s cardiovascular advisor, “it is important to mention that prevention is a fundamental pillar, and that for this we need to act now and modify our lifestyles in healthier directions”.
Women who are more likely to have heart disease
A recent study from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center found that “the path to heart failure is different for women and men”. According to the study, differences in both the cells of the heart, as well as in the tissues that surround it, after a cardiac event, make it possible to predict a diagnosis of heart failure with greater certainty, particularly in women.
Women who have been exposed to air pollution and traffic noise for a long time have an increased risk of developing heart failure, especially if they are or have been smokers or if they have high blood pressure. This is one of the main conclusions reached by a large study of Danish women, published last year in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
So, if the exposure to road noise and very fine particles of nitrogen dioxide (a pollutant that comes out of traffic) increases, the risk of HF in women also increases. Air pollution had a greater impact than road noise on heart failure risk, but women exposed to high levels of both were more likely to develop the condition.
