(WYTV)- Heart disease is still the leading cause of death for women in this country.
For women who are pregnant or who delivered a baby within a year, those deaths have increased, it’s awful to lose a young mother.
This kind of heart failure has red flags attached to it. What may appear as normal symptoms during pregnancy may hide the heart problem warning signs, especially shortness of breath. And delays in diagnosis can be deadly.
“There is a unique form of heart failure that occurs during pregnancy and shortly after having a baby called peripartum cardiomyopathy. black women have up to a sixteen fold of risk of developing this condition, compared to white women,” said Dr. Demilde Adedinsewo of the Mayo Clinic.
Eating a healthy diet, exercising, getting enough sleep, and not smoking can lower risks.
Be sure to keep your regular appointments with your doctor, she’ll want to check your blood glucose and blood lipids.
The sooner a physician can diagnose a pregnant woman who might also have a risk of heart failure, the better to get her into the right therapy.
