Chronic Disease Management and Older Women

Cardiovascular disease is a serious health problem for older women, which affects 70% of women over the age of 60 years, one in three women will die from cardiovascular disease, and is the leading cause of death among women aged 65 and older (Gallant et al., 2015). Furthermore, cardiovascular disease is also a significant contributor to disability and decreased quality of life, and women are more likely than men to suffer from disability and depression after a cardiac event (Gallant et al., 2015).

Further adding to the risk of women developing coronary heart disease (CHD) is the presence of diabetes. Peters, Huxley, & Woodward (2014) published a systematic review summarizing what we know about the sex-based differences in diabetes-related coronary risk factors, the authors conclude that Diabetes bestows a significantly greater relative risk of CHD in women than in men, and these risk factors and relative undertreatment of diabetes in women compared with men are NOT likely to account for all of the excess risk observed in women, which calls for more research into why women have more CHD risks. There may be more about the biology of older women (Peters et al., 2014) that needs to be better understood as a level of influence and not relay on the obvious issues related to decreased access to care that older women can experience due to sexism and agism (Clarke, Bennett, & Korotchenko, 2014; Davidson, DiGiacomo, & McGrath, 2011).

The American Heart Association (2011) launched an incredibly successful campaign to increase awareness of heart disease in women and highlights the role that women play in our society which hinders her in accessing timely healthcare, click on this link to watch the video.

The Go Red for Women (2011) campaign helps to create an informed, empowered patient as shown above in the Health Canada’s (2007) Chronic Care Model aimed at improving outcomes for chronic disease management. An informed and empowered patient is the first step in increasing access to care, and diminishing risk factors so that communities can make healthier choices. Specifically, for CHD in older women there is growing evidence that self-management programs can be successful in improving health-related outcomes, such as in Gallant et al. (2015) article, which publised the positive effects of implementing an evidence-based heart disease self-management program amongst community dwelling older women.

(Image from: Health Canada, 2007).

References

American Heart Association (2011). Just a Little Heart Attack. OfficalGoRed4Women.

Clarke, L. H., Bennett, E. V., & Korotchenko, A. (2014). Negotiating Vulnerabilities: How Older Adults with Multiple Chronic Conditions Interact with Physicians. Canadian Journal On Aging, 33(1), 26-37. doi:10.1017/S0714980813000597

Davidson, P. M., DiGiacomo, M., & McGrath, S. J. (2011). The Feminization of Aging: How Will This Impact on Health Outcomes and Services?. Health Care For Women International, 32(12), 1031-1045. doi:10.1080/07399332.2011.610539

Gallant, M. P., Pettinger, T. M., Coyle, C. L., & Spokane, L. S. (2015). Results of a community translation of the “Women take PRIDE” heart disease self-management program. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 34(2), 244-262.http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.912.629&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Health Canada (2007). Chronic disease prevention and management. Retrieved from https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/health-care-system/reports-publications/primary-health-care/chronic-disease-prevention-management.html

Peters, S. A., Huxley, R. R., & Woodward, M. (2014). Diabetes as risk factor for incident coronary heart disease in women compared with men: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 64 cohorts including 858,507 individuals and 28,203 coronary events. Retrieved from: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs00125-014-3260-6.pdf