Diseases of the cardiovascular system (myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, cardiomyopathy) account for 40% of all deaths in men and up to 49% of all deaths in women. For a long time it was thought that the clinical picture of ischemic heart disease in men and women was similar. Now, however, there are more reports suggesting that diverse manifestations of the symptoms of ischemic disease may be related to differences between sexes. The disparity between women and men is also evident in the diagnostic process, and various pathological mechanisms of cardiovascular diseases, in particular myocardial ischemia in men and women, affect the differences in the results of diagnostic tests. Vasomotor dysfunction is particularly frequent in women, as their coronary vessels are more sensitive to the catecholamines released during mental stress, resulting in spasm and ischemic myocardium. Moreover, a much lower dose of acetylcholine induced vasoconstriction, which indicates that women are more sensitive to this neurotransmitter. Therefore, coronary vasomotor disorders in the form of epicardial and microvascular dysfunction are more often seen in women. All these mentioned factors resulted in higher mortality and poorer quality of life of women suffering from ischemic heart disease.

Introduction. It is well known that the period of maternity commencing from conception is accompanied by great emotions. Each stage is associated with specific behavior as well as the anxiety. The postpartum period is particularly exposed to stress and the ability to overcome it is very important, therefore the support of the loved ones is necessary. Aim. Assessment of the severity of the stress levels of women in childbirth. Material and methods. The research was conducted among 178 women during the postpartum period. The methods of diagnostic survey and own questionnaires were used, as well as PSS-10 standardized tool. Results. The study involved 178 women during the postpartum period. Interpretation of results for the level of stent PSS-10 showed low results - 23.6%, average - 32.6%, high - 43.8% due to a high stress level. Statistically significant factors are: marital status - married women experience lower stress levels, socioeconomic status - the higher socioeconomic status, the test group felt lower stress, birth time - there is a significant difference between women giving birth before 37 weeks and those giving birth in right term. Particular age group, place of residence, education, the number of births and the way of birth are not factors that differentiate levels of perceived stress of women in childbirth. Conclusions. Perinatal period is a time of dynamic changes characterized by high levels of stress. Age, place of residence, education, number of births and way of birth do not affect the level of stress, whereas marital status, socioeconomic situation and the date of birth determine stress levels for women.

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Introduction: Breasts self examination is first line prevention in case of breast cancer. It is cheap, it is easy and it can save your life. That is why it is so important that every woman and even man know how to do it. The aim: To estimate the level of knowledge about breasts self examination among women and also among people connected with medicine. Materials and methods: The data were gathered through the internet questionnaire, which contained of 14 questions. There were 204 respondents : 53% women and 47% men. Among them there were 93% people related with medicine. Average age was 23,5 years. The participation was voluntary and annonymous. Results: Among female respondents 57% admit doing breasts self examination, however only 23% of them do that regularly every month. Also only 36% of the respondents know how to do proper examination. When asked if they ever had their breasts examined by the doctor, only 20% replied positively. We also prepared questions for people connected with medical field: we asked them if doing breasts examination for the patient they would feel confident (61% replied negatively.) and also if they had a chance to do breasts examination during studies most of them replied negatively. Conclusions: To conclude, even among women connected with medical field the knowledge is not enough, which is the most concerning since they should educate others and diagnose concerning symptoms. We should put more afford to break the tabu and pay more attention to breast examination.