Articles

Heart Disease in Women: The Silent Epidemic

I had the appearance of a healthy, 44 year old woman with a few minor complaints: upper back pain, numbness in my arms, and occasional chest heaviness. I called it stress. A cardiologist added my family history of heart disease to these symptoms and called for thorough medical testing. Less than one month later, in September of 2006, I underwent Open Heart Double Bypass Surgery at Baylor Hospital in Grapevine. I kept hearing I was "too young" to have heart disease and this scar down my chest. I was also told I was lucky, because my heart disease was diagnosed and received treatment before I had a heart attack.

Many women aren't as lucky, and do not receive proper treatment despite exhibiting classic symptoms of heart disease, because most of us, including many health care professionals, think of heart disease as a problem that impacts older men. The statistics show a different truth.

Heart disease is the number one killer of women, taking the lives of over 460,000 women each year (more than all forms of cancer combined and more than 10 times the number of women who die of breast cancer).

Despite the facts, women are routinely misdiagnosed. Shockingly, the vast majority of doctors, including cardiologists, do not know more women than men die of heart disease. As a result, men and women with the same symptoms of heart disease regularly receive dramatically different screening and treatment.

John Osborne, Board Certified in Cardiology, Internal Medicine, Echocardiography, Nuclear Cardiology, and Clinical Hypertension, of State of the Heart Cardiology in Grapevine, Texas, sees the impact of this disparity. "The awareness by physicians of the true burden of heart disease in women has significantly improved over the last ten years, but in can improve further," said Dr. Osborne. "The challenge is that many times the symptoms in women can be much more subtle (shortness of breath, fatigue) and easily confused with a variety of other, more benign problems."

Dr. Osborne believes the critical issues are awareness and early detection. "Like cancer, this �Cancer of the Coronary�s� begins years before it becomes clinically apparent and�many times too late. In approximately two-thirds of women," continues Dr. Osborne, "the first symptom of heart disease is death! We need�to further educate doctors and women of this major health threat."

Here in Texas, WomenHeart, the national coalition for women with heart disease, is working to educate women and increase awareness in various ways. One example is participation in the Sister-to-Sister Women�s Heart Health Fair at the Dallas Convention Center on February 9th, but much more needs to be done.

As we commemorate National Heart Month this February, we encourage Congress to pass the HEART for Women Act�landmark legislation sponsored by a bipartisan group of 250 U.S. Senators and Representatives. This important bill would provide training and education for medical professionals and women about the prevalence, warning signs and treatment of heart disease in women, and require data submitted to the FDA be reported by gender, so researchers can identify specific causes and treatment options for women.

Unlike most cures, which require a miracle of discovery, this legislation will make sure we put the important research and effective treatments we already have to work against the number one killer of women, and help save countless numbers of our mothers, daughters, and sisters.

Sandra Eyer, of Keller, Texas is a bypass surgery survivor living with heart disease, and a volunteer community educator for WomenHeart, The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease (www.womenheart.org).