chennai this year world heart day heads straight to the hearth while the theme for september 29 is one heart one home one world the focus this time is on cardiovascular disease cvd prevention in mothers and children and with good reason too earlier for every five men you would see one woman with cvd now the gap has reduced for every three men there are two women who need treatment says dr i sathyamurthy senior interventional cardiologist and director of department of cardiology at apollo hospitals dr paul ramesh senior cardiothoracic and transplant surgeon at apollo hospitals says that 30 years ago less than 10 of coronary artery bypass patients were women today 30 of the patients are women he says conventional wisdom was that women were protected from heart disease till menopause now that has been proved a myth we are seeing younger women with heart disease which is a result of a complex interplay of genetics and environment adds dr ramesh like in the case of s aparna who two years ago at the age of 38 never thought she would be seeing herself wheeled into the emergency room for a heart attack i felt a severe pain in my chest suddenly and slumped over i was rushed to the hospital and told that i had an anterior valve myocardium infarction all i could think about was my twoyearold daughter says aparna while the doctors told me that the attack could be attributed to genetics and lifestyle i must admit though that between work and home i was neglecting my health she says dr sandeep attawar director of cardiac surgery and transplantation at global healthy city says that women in india tend to be seen only as mothers or grandmothers she is always seen as the giver and ends up neglecting her health he says when women complain of chest pain they are not taken seriously most of them dont go for regular checkups he says one of the reasons for the increasing number of women with cvd is stress as many have a lot more to juggle with at work and home lack of exercise and bad food habits add to the problem say cardiologists also women are hitting menopause earlier than before losing their hormonal protection we are also seeing more cases of surgical menopause says dr sathyamurthy the cardiologists say that the heart attack is just the end stage symptom of a disease that has built up for several years what you are seeing as a heart attack at 50 years has begun at five years says dr attawar the good news though is that with increasing awareness and economic independence more women are being detected with cardiovascular disease at least we are now beginning to catch it early says dr ramesh