bangalore three months ago when a 37yearold techie was wheeled into a city hospital for a bypass surgery it perhaps reflected that age was no more the criterion and that todays woman was surely ignoring her health traditionally while smoking drinking and workrelated stress has led to chronic heart problems among men increase in habit of smoking stress fast food coupled with sedentary lifestyle is making women especially urban working women diabetic and this leads to weakening their heart according to who world health organisation three women died every minute in 2008 due to cardiovascular disease various informal studies conducted by cardio vascular diseases experts say that urban women are two to three times more prone to heart problem thanks to their lifestyle more women in their late thirties forties and early fifties are complaining of cardiac diseases it was a different scene five years ago when women in their early sixties were more prone to heart diseases says dr rehan syed consultant cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon with fortis hospital the citys women are surely not exercising enough leading to obesity and the resultant diabetes the problems compound and one leads to another high cholesterol hypertension etc all these factors increase blood sugar and lead to endothelial dysfunction which causes blockage in arteries says ravindranath reddy consultant cardiologist bgs global hospital shockingly doctors are also seeing a new pattern in heart problems early menopause or artificial menopause by removal of uterus and ovaries can increase risk of heart attack earlier a woman would attain menopause in her late fifties but today a woman in her early 40s attains menopause also pills consumed for postponing menses cycle and hormone pills are leading to heart problems these factors have made urban women more prone to cardio vascular problems says dr c manjunath director sri jayadeva cardiovascular sciences and research the rural woman on the other hand is more relaxed as she does more exercise says dr s s iyengar hod and consultant cardiologist at manipal hospital compared to women in urban areas the women of rural areas have less stressed life also they exercise a lot this keeps cholesterol and blood sugar in control who says according to who nearly 65 of all diabetics die from coronary heart disease for the record there are at least 20 million diabetics in india for men over 40 the lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease is one in three for women it is one in two one fifth of the deaths in india are from coronary heart disease but by 2020 it will account for onethird and majority of them will be youngsters coronary artery heart disease is the number one cause of death in india for both men and women