In the U.S. alone, heart disease affects an estimated 9 million people. Whereas in the U.K., it is the cause of death in one in five men and some 1.6 million men currently suffer from heart disease. The causes of heart disease and the extent to which an individual recovers relate to testosterone, cholesterol and lifestyle contributing to poorer outcomes for these patients. Further with the gender difference, men are more likely to develop congestive heart failure and stroke than women.
Although heart disease affects men and women, it is men who suffer from the condition in higher numbers. Types of heart conditions include peripheral arterial disease and aortic disease, including aneurysm.
According to a report commissioned bv GBI Research called the CBR Pharma report, heart disease is the leading cause of death in men. The report highlights the risks of so-termed “lifestyle factors” as contributors to the risk of developing heart disease or as factors which slow down the recovery from heart conditions. Other risk factors include smoking.
These factors include obesity, diet, alcohol consumption and activity levels. Men tend to be, from the survey, worse practitioners of these factors compared with women, which partly accounts for the differences in recovery from heart conditions and the higher death rates in men.
One factor that does not receive as much coverage, is that for men with coronary heart disease, mortality increases by almost 100 percent for those with low testosterone levels when compared with men who have normal levels of the hormone.
With a more traditional factor — cholesterol, the study shows that once a man has passed 20 years of age, cholesterol levels often increase more greatly in men compared with women. This is important because high-density cholesterol levels correlate with the risk of coronary heart disease. Men are more likely not to take cholesterol tests than women.
The key issue, the survey concludes, is with health promotion and disease prevention. More exercise, lower cholesterol diets and more temperate alcohol consumption can help to reduce the chances of men developing heart disease and such lifestyle changes can assist with recovery from heart attacks.
