Diabetes and Women’s Heart Health

In this video, Suzanne Steinbaum, DO, author of Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum’s Heart Book: Every Woman’s Guide to a Heart Healthy Life and Bottom Line’s “At the Heart of It All” blog, discusses the risk factors for diabetes, particularly those that affect women’s heart health. Women with diabetes are four times more likely to have a stroke or heart attack than women who do not have diabetes. And 30% of women with diabetes will go on to have a heart attack or stroke. The longer a woman lives with diabetes, the greater these risks become because women’s arteries are more susceptible to damage than men’s arteries. Poor diet, abdominal obesity and a sedentary lifestyle are all leading causes of diabetes in women, so it is crucial for women with these risk factors to work with their doctors to prevent diabetes before it causes irreversible damage to the cardiovascular system.

Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum is a cardiologist, author and spokesperson for the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Campaign. She has devoted her career to treating heart disease through early detection, education and prevention. For more great tips from Dr. Steinbaum, check out her other videos and Bottom Line blog, At The Heart Of It All.