Health hazards in middle-aged women with cardiovascular disease: a case-control study of swedish women. the women's health in the Lund area (WHILA) study.

OBJECTIVE

To delineate the health profile in middle-aged women with cardiovascular disease (CVD).

METHODS

The Women's Health in the Lund Area (WHILA) project covered all women born 1935-1945 (n = 10,766) living in the Lund area; 6917 (64.2%) women completed a generic questionnaire and underwent physical and laboratory assessments. Of the 6917 women, 6416 were postmenopausal women, of whom 104 had CVD. For each woman with CVD, two controls were selected and matched for age, smoking habits, body mass index (BMI), waist/hip ratio (WHR), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density liproprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), diastolic blood pressure and hormonal status.

RESULTS

One hundred four women (1.6%) reported CVD. Forty-nine had a myocardial infarction (MI), 49 had a stroke, and 6 women had both events; 71.4% were postmenopausal, with never use of hormone therapy (HT) (PM0), and 28.6% were postmenopausal with ever use of HT (PMT). Compared with the control group, serum androstendione was lower (p = 0.004) in the case group, and menopausal estradiol (E(2)) values were less frequent (p = 0.037) in cases from the PM0 group. Among psychological and somatic symptoms, nervousness (p < 0.05), difficulty relaxing, crying easily, visual disturbance (p </= 0.01 for all), dizziness, difficulties in voiding urine, shortness of breath, breast tenderness, and constipation (p </= 0.001 for all) were more common among women with CVD. Women with CVD expressed less satisfaction with feeling healthy, body image, memory loss, irritability, and sexuality (p </= 0.05 for all). The case group had more problems with daily activities, more days spent in hospital during the previous 5 years, and more regular medical appointments with healthcare centers, more often had diabetes mellitus (DM) (p < 0.001 for all), and had experienced more falls in the previous year (p < 0.05). Urinary incontinence and decreased body weight were more common among cases (p </= 0.01 for both).

CONCLUSION

Several health hazards as well as somatic and psychological symptoms were more common in subjects with CVD, rendering them more susceptible to future disease.