Every once in a while (like today), newspapers carry a breathless article about how "devastating" heart disease is for women. It is the most frequent cause of death for women, don't you know.
But this is nonsense. If you live to be 80 years old, your "cause of death" is totally irrelevant from a medical research standpoint, and most women live to be 80 and older. At that point, there are usually multiple systems in your body that could crap out and cause you to die, and if it happens to be a heart attack or stroke, so what? Medical research should focus on causes of PREMATURE death. With respect to heart disease, premature death is death before age 60.
Going after research funding to "end" heart disease for women, based on its being the most frequent cause of death in women is stealing money from other more worthy causes that could be addressed.
Just my thoughts.
But this is nonsense. If you live to be 80 years old, your "cause of death" is totally irrelevant from a medical research standpoint, and most women live to be 80 and older. At that point, there are usually multiple systems in your body that could crap out and cause you to die, and if it happens to be a heart attack or stroke, so what? Medical research should focus on causes of PREMATURE death. With respect to heart disease, premature death is death before age 60.
Going after research funding to "end" heart disease for women, based on its being the most frequent cause of death in women is stealing money from other more worthy causes that could be addressed.
Just my thoughts.