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... Bone loss and heart disease Your browser does not support script L I F E S T Y L E Health Wednesday March 29, 2006 Bone loss and heart disease By DR MILTON LUM After the menopause, a woman may experience changes that may or may not be related to the decreased hormone levels.

These include serious conditions like cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis.

Early measures taken may prevent or detect these conditions early.

Cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease is a term that describes conditions of the circulatory system and includes heart disease and strokes.

Cardiovascular disease is the commonest cause of death in post-menopausal women.

Although many women worry about cancer, especially breast cancer, there are more women who die from heart disease than from breast cancer.

Women who have not reached menopause have a much lower risk of cardiovascular disease than men.

The risk to a woman increases significantly after the menopause when the oestrogen levels fall so much that the risk of heart attacks is twice or thrice that of pre-menopausal women the same age.

There are several cardiovascular risk factors.

Some cannot be changed but others can be controlled or modified to reduce the risk.

The risk factors include: Increasing age.

Post-menopause especially if the menopause is premature i.e.

below 40 years of age.

Family history.

The risk of cardiovascular disease is increased if the woman’s father or brother had a heart attack before the age of 55 years; the ...

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