The hormonal changes beginning in perimenopause impact your entire body, including your heart. If you experience heart palpitations during perimenopause, you are not alone—roughly two in five women do. Zigzagging hormone levels can cause your heart rate to spike as much as 16 extra beats per minute. To make things more uncomfortable, palpitations often accompany hot flashes.
Moreover, while one in nine women younger than 52 have heart disease, that ratio leaps to one in three after menopause. One in three. The consequence is nearly one in two women over 50 will die of heart disease—making it the leading cause of death in women.
We need to start paying attention to our hearts. And the sooner, the better.
There is no one better to talk with us about menopause and women’s heart health than Dr. Erin Michos. The topics she will discuss include:
Dr. Erin Michos is an Associate Professor in the Division of Cardiology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, with a joint appointment in Epidemiology at the School of Public Health. She is the Director of Women’s Cardiovascular Health Research and the Associate Director of Preventive Cardiology at Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Michos is an internationally known expert in Preventive Cardiology and Women’s Health, having authored over 650 publications and 11 book chapters. Her research involves (1) women’s cardiovascular health; (2) lipids and lipid management; (3) cardiometabolic disease; and (4) coronary artery calcium, inflammation, and biomarkers of cardiovascular risk.
Dr. Michos is the co-editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Preventive Cardiology and Associate Editor for Circulation. She is also Co-Director of the IMPACT Center (Improving Participation Among Diverse Populations in Cardiovascular Clinical Trials) at Johns Hopkins and the Training Director for four American Heart Association Strategic Focused Research Networks. She has mentored over 60 individuals and received 2 mentoring awards.
