Women's Health Answers

Question #: 1 Which of the following puts your heart at risk?
Answer explanation: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, not only tobacco use, lack of physical activity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels, but also obesity, diabetes and poor nutrition, put women at a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.


Question #: 2 Which disease is the leading cause of death among women?
Answer explanation: With increased media attention on breast cancer, many women falsely believe that breast cancer is the leading killer of women. However, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cardiovascular disease claims the life of more women each year. In 1997, there were 502,938 women that died from cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular disease claimed more women's lives than the next fourteen causes of death combined.


Question #: 3 True or false: The signs and symptoms of heart disease are the same in both men and women.
Answer explanation: According to the Society for Women's Health Research and the U.S. Public Health Service's Office on Women's Health, women often do not recognize the signs of heart disease because the signs are normally different than the signs in men. While the first signs of heart disease in men are often chest pain and shortness of breath, the signs women experience tend to be more subtle and include chest pain, indigestion, abdominal or mid-back pain, and nausea.


Question #: 4 Which of the following cancers has the highest mortality rate in women?
Answer explanation: According to the National Women's Health Resource Center, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women. During the past ten years, lung cancer has overtaken breast cancer as the leading cause of cancer death in women.


Question #: 5 At what age is it recommended for a woman to have her first mammogram if she does not have a family history of breast cancer or is not considered at high risk?
Answer explanation: According to the American Cancer Society, a woman forty or older should have a yearly mammogram if she is not considered at high risk (family history, previous breast cancer, previous cancer, chest radiation therapy). Women under forty who are not a high risk should perform monthly breast self-exams and receive a clinical breast exam every three years.


Question #: 6 True or false: Breast cancer only occurs in women over the age of 40.
Answer explanation: According to the American Cancer Society, although rare, women under the age of forty account for five percent of breast cancer cases each year.


Question #: 7 True or false: Uterine cancer is the most common gynecological cancer.
Answer explanation: According to the National Women's Health Resource Center, uterine cancer is the most common gynecological cancer and as many as seventy-five percent of all cases of uterine cancer occur in women who are menopausal or postmenopausal. While the peak age for diagnosis of uterine cancer is age sixty, women of all ages can develop uterine cancer and should be routinely screened for the disorder.


Question #: 8 Which of the following factors is considered a risk factor for cervical cancer?
Answer explanation: According to the National Women's Health Resource Center, sex at an early age, multiple sex partners, recurrent sexually transmitted diseases, and smoking as well as a compromised immune system can increase your chance of developing cervical cancer.


Question #: 9 What percentage of women of childbearing age does premenstrual syndrome affect?
Answer explanation: According to the National Women's Health Resource Center, as many as ninety-five percent of women experience some menstrual discomfort. However, only thirty to forty percent of women of childbearing age experience true premenstrual syndrome (PMS). The symptoms each woman experiences is different but, for most, the symptoms of PMS include mood swings, depressed mood, anxiety, fatigue, bloating, increased appetite, and/or breast tenderness. Also, five to seven percent of women experience premenstrual depressive disorder (PMDD), a premenstrual disorder that causes severe symptoms affecting mood and quality of life.


Question #: 10 True or false: After menopause, women no longer need to receive pap smears.
Answer explanation: According to the College of American Pathologists and the National Institutes of Health, all women who are aged eighteen and older or sexually active should have a pap smear each year and should continue to do so for the duration of their lives, even after menopause and/or a hysterectomy. However, the American Cancer Society recommends that after menopause and/or hysterectomy, women who have had three normal pap smears should discuss the frequency in which they should continue to receive this screening with their health provider. While both sides do not agree on frequency, they do recommend that after menopause and hysterectomy women should continue to receive pap smears.


Question #: 11 True or false: Nearly two thirds of all sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) occur in individuals younger than 25.
Answer explanation: According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, sexually transmitted diseases most predominantly affect teens and young adults under the age of twenty-five. However, all sexually active men and women are at risk for STDs and should be regularly screened.


Question #: 12 True or false: The health problems caused by STDs are usually less severe in women than in men.
Answer explanation: According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, STDs affect women more severely because a woman usually seeks treatment at a later stage of the illness due to the lack of symptoms and/or confusion about the symptoms she experiences.


Question #: 13 Which of the following affects your risk of osteoporosis?
Answer explanation: According to the Osteoporosis and Related Bone Diseases -- National Resource Center, low calcium intake, smoking, eating disorders and excessive alcohol consumption can affect your risk of developing osteoporosis. In addition, female status, a small frame, postmenopausal status, use of corticosteroids and anticonvulsants, physical inactivity and a family history of osteoporosis are risk factors.


Question #: 14 At what age has a woman acquired 98% of her skeletal mass?
Answer explanation: According to the Osteoporosis and Related Bone Diseases -- National Resource Center, by the age of twenty a woman has acquired ninety-eight percent of her skeletal mass. Therefore, the best defense for women against developing osteoporosis is building strong bones during childhood and adolescence.


Question #: 15 True or false: Women are three times more likely to experience migraine headaches than men.
Answer explanation: According to the National Women's Health Resource Center, women are three times more likely to experience a migraine than men. Migraine attacks are more likely to have a significant impact on the life of a woman, affecting all aspects of her life including her mental health and her professional, social and family life.


Question #: 16 True or false: Women are more likely to suffer from depression than men.
Answer explanation: According to the National Institute of Mental Health, women are twice as likely to develop depression compared with men. Although the exact reasons for a woman's increased risk of depression are not known, theories include reproductive, genetic, societal, and hormonal factors.


Question #: 17 Which of the following diseases is classified as an autoimmune disease?
Answer explanation: According to National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, all of these disorders are considered autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune disease affects the body in many different ways but is normally defined as a disease that develops when a person's immune system attacks the cells, tissues, and organs of his/her own body instead of attacking foreign bacteria, cells, and/or viruses.


Question #: 18 True or false: As a group, autoimmune disease affects more women than men.
Answer explanation: According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as a group autoimmune disease affects women of all ages and races more often than men.


Question #: 19 How many American couples are affected by infertility each year?
Answer explanation: According to the National Women's Health Resource Center, infertility affects 6.1 million couples and roughly ten percent of the population of reproductive age.


Question #: 20 True or false: Only postmenopausal women experience urinary incontinence.
Answer explanation: According to the National Kidney and Urology Diseases Information Clearinghouse, women of all ages experience urinary incontinence and are more than twice as likely to develop the disorder as men. While older women experience incontinence more often, younger women are also susceptible to this disorder. Among the elderly, incontinence is often a permanent but treatable disorder. Among younger women, incontinence is often temporary and is caused by varying underlying medical conditions that are treatable or curable.

 

To receive credit for completion of this module, click here...