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 Health & Beauty | February 2005 
Tracking Women's Health
 The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' pocket guide to women's health, Women's Health Stats and Facts 2004, provides a variety of national health data, trends and other information specific to women's health. Included are reports on gynecological conditions,cardiovascular disease, breast and other cancers and sexually transmitted diseases.
Mortality - As of 2001, life expectancy of women (79.8 years) in the United States was more than 5 years longer than that of men (74.4 years).
Top Causes of Women's Death
1 Heart disease
2 Cancer
3 Stroke
4 Chronic lower respiratory
diseases*
5 Diabetes mellitus
6 Alzheimer's disease
7 Accidents
8 Flu and pneumonia
9 Kidney disorders
10 Blood poisoning
*including emphysema, asthma
Cardiovascular Disease
According to a recent survey, only 34 percent of women are aware that heart disease is their No. 1 killer. In 2001, heart disease and stroke killed more than 461,000 women.
About one-third of heart attacks in women go unnoticed or unreported because symptoms may be subtly different from men's. Nausea and dizziness are more common in women than men, who more frequently feel pain in the chest.
Thirty-eight percent of women who have heart attacks die within a year, compared with 25 percent of men.
The 2001 death rate for heart disease was 208.6 per 100,000 for black women and 267.7 for white women: the death rate from stroke was 56.9 per 100,000 for black women and 74.0 for white women.
Women fear breast cancer almost twice as much as they fear heart attack, yet each year more than 12 times as many women die of cardiovascular disease than of breast cancer.
Cancer - As the second-leading cause of death among US women, it was expected to claim the lives of 270,600 women in 2003. Below are 2003 mortality estimates by type of cancer.
Type - New cases - Deaths
Breast - 212,600 - 39,800
Lung - 80,100 - 68,800
Uterus - 40,100 - 6,800
Urinary system - 28,400 - 8,700
Ovary - 25,400 - 14,300
Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma - 25,100 - 11,200
Skin melanoma - 23,400- 2,900
Thyroid - 16,300 - 800
Bladder - 15,200 - 3,900
Pancreas - 15,800 - 15,300
Leukemia - 12,700 - 9,800
Cervix - 12,200 - 4,100
Oral - 9,500 - 2,400
Vaginal & other genital - 2,000 - 800
Gynecological Conditions
1 Urinary tract infections: About 5 million cases occur each year, about 1 in 5 women will have a urinary tract infection in her lifetime.
2 Polycystic ovary syndrome: Genetic disorder occurs in 4.6 percent of women.
3 Ectopic pregnancy: About 20 in 1000 pregnancies are ectopic. the leading cause of pregnancy-related death during the first trimester. Incidence has risen steadily since 1970. when the rate was 4-5 per 1,000 reported pregnancies Pelvic inflammatory disease is most important risk factor for ectopic pregnancy.
4 Dysmenorrhea: An estimated 15 percent of women have primary dysmenorrhea and 15 percent report severe menstrual cramps, 38 percent report onset within one year of menarche.
5 Endometriosis: Condition occurs in 7.10 percent of women in general population and up to 50 percent of premenopausal women, with a prevalence of 38 percent in infertile women and 7187 percent in women with chronic pelvic pain.
6 Uterine fibroid: Occurs in 25.50 percent of women, although prevalence may be as high as 80 percent. Must common in women ages 30-40: 1 is the reason for nearly 39 percent of the 600.000 hysterectomies performed in the United States each year.
7 Pelvic inflammatory disease: About 1 million women are treated for PID every year. Adolescent females are at greatest risk and account for 16-20 percent of all cases, About 1 in 7 women is treated for PID at some point in her life.
8 Osteoporosis: Of the 28 million Americans with osteoporosis or with low bone mass, about 80 percent are women osteoporosis-related fractures will occur in more than 40 percent of women older than 5O.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases - There are more than 25 recognized types of STDs with about 15 million new cases in the United States each year About one-quarter of these new infections are in teenagers. Health problems caused by STDs tend to be more severe in women than men.
Chlamydia
Between 2000 and 2001, reported case rate in women increased from 397.3 to 435.2 per 100,000. If not adequately treated, 20-40 percent of women infected could develop pelvic inflammatory disease, which may lead to ectopic pregnancy and infertility.
Gonorrhea
In 2001, case rate among women w,as 128.2 per 100,000. Rates are highest in females ages 15-19, regardless of race or ethnicity. If not adequately treated, 10-40 percent of women with gonorrhea, a bacterial infection, may develop PID.
Hepatitis B
An estimated 417,000 people are currently living with this chronic, sexually acquired viral infection. An estimated 20,000 infants are born each year to mothers with hepatitis B.
Herpes
More common in women than men, infecting about one in four women compared with one in five men.
HIV/AIDS
There were an estimated 5 million new HIV infections worldwide in 2002, about 14,000 each day. Two million of these cases were women. An estimated 40,000 new cases of HIV occur each year to the United States, about 30 percent among women and half among individuals younger than 25. In 2001, HIV/AIDS was the sixth-leading cause of death among US. women ages 25-34, but it was the leading cause of death among black women in the same age group.
Human Papillomavirus
An estimated 75 percent of the reproductive-age population has been infected with this disease. HPV is the most important risk factor for cervical cancer.
Syphilis
Case rates in 1999 were highest among women ages 20-22 Since 1990, rates have declined 88 percent to 2.5 cases per 100,000 people in 2002. |
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