High Blood Pressure in Women Over 40 - Why Do 65% Who Know They Have it Ignore It

High blood pressure in women can lead to heart disease which is the number one cause of death among women. Not breast cancer or any other cancer as most women might think. According to the American Heart Association and the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, over 500,000 women lose their lives to heart disease each year.

Three out of four women with high blood pressure know they have it. That's the good news because that's a higher percentage than men.

The bad news is that less than one out of three is doing anything to control their blood pressure.

HBP can lead to heart diseases such as heart attack, and congestive heart failure. Heart disease is the number one killer of women. Why do 66% ignore this preventable condition?

Perhaps it's because traditionally high blood pressure was thought of as a man's disease. In part that is still true. A woman of reproductive age generates sufficient estrogen to give her some natural defenses against high blood pressure. Estrogen not only allows the blood vessels to remain elastic, it also modulates the behavior of other hormones which tend to drive up pressure. So until a women reaches menopause, she has less risk of HBP than a man her own age has.

However, once a woman passes menopause, the amount of estrogen her body produces drops significantly. Without the protection that estrogen previously provided, hormones like progestin will attempt to elevate blood pressure. A woman's risk of developing HBP after menopause increases dramatically.

Enter Hormone Replacement Therapy or HRT. This was a common treatment that eased to the negative conditions associated with menopause and was also thought that it protected women from heart disease. That theory went out the window with a report in 2002 that said HRT could actually cause heart disease and was strongly related to breast cancer.

The battle still goes on with the AMA saying there is no place for HRT or SERM and that the risks they raise are not worth any positive benefit they might have. The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute says it's OK for younger post menopausal women (60 or younger) and should be used.

Regardless if you agree or disagree about HRT, there are natural treatments for high blood pressure that are easy and effective and the loss of estrogen can easily be offset using these therapies.

If of course you are one of those two out of three women who knows you have the condition and refuse to do anything about it, the it really doesn't matter does it. Just try to not use a tax supported hospital when you have your heart attack. I hate to waste my money.