Even though cardiovascular disease (CVD) kills more women than men each year and remains a leading cause of death in women, it is a common misconception that women are less likely to develop CVD. Considerable sex difference exists between men and women with regard to prevention, investigations, and management of CVD. Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a major contributor to CVD morbidity and mortality and hence is specifically addressed in this article. With an explosive increase in the incidence of conventional risk factors for coronary artery disease in India, there has been an alarming increase in women's coronary events as much as men. A false sense of gender-based protection by estrogen leads to less aggressive and late prevention or management strategies that contribute to women's CAD. Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is an important contributor to future development of CAD and is also an indicator for earlier interventions for prevention. Due to physical inactivity and central obesity, MetS is more prevalent in women, especially postmenopausal. With estrogen loss, menopause marks a critical cardiovascular biological transition, with a significantly increased CVD risk in women aged >55 years. Certain female-specific risk factors, such as history of polycystic ovarian syndrome, pregnancy-induced hypertension, and gestational diabetes, also seem to play an essential role in the development of CVD in later life. Certain vascular and biological factors, such as smaller coronary vessel size, higher prevalence of small vessel disease, and lesser development of collateral flow, also play an important role. This review article is an attempt to provide important information on gender differences in CVD with specific emphasis on CAD.
Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is the most common type of anemia. Most of the anemic patients, especially women, suffer from mild to severe deficiency of iron. Almost 50% of all pregnant women experience IDA during their pregnancies, and at least 1 out of 5 of girls and women may experience it during their reproductive years. One complete eradication of IDA is not feasible but a try can help us on a long way. Only supplementation is not the answer. Going to the root cause, finding out current situation and managing accordingly by available resources is the correct answer.
How to cite this article
Munshi A, Munshi S. Iron Deficiency Anemia in Pregnancy: Can We eradicate? World J Anemia 2017;1(2):36-39.
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