A Heartfelt Cause: Changing the Narrative Around Women’s Heart Disease By identifying risk factors early, the Women’s Cardio Clinic is raising awareness about the leading killer of women over 65 By Alizah Salario | Photos: Stephen Legendre
Nausea. Abdominal pain. Tingling. Band-like pressure around the chest. These are classic heart attack symptoms in women—and all too often, they’re ignored. Though heart disease is often characterized as a man’s disease, it is in fact a leading cause of death among women in America. A startling one in six women will die from heart disease, and it kills six times more women than breast cancer. “When you look at those statistics, you realize there’s a huge gap in awareness. How can we close this gap and increase awareness?” said Salima Qamruddin MD, MPH, FASE, and Director of the Women’s Cardiovascular Clinic at Ochsner. Dr. Qamruddin is raising awareness about women’s heart disease through a holistic approach to care. As a cofounder of the Women’s Cardiovascular Clinic along with Merill Stewart, MD, Dr. Qamruddin leads a team that counsels and treats women who have significant risk factors for heart disease, including diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, a history of smoking or a sedentary lifestyle. Breast cancer survivors who received chemotherapy or radiation to the chest also have an increased risk. The Women’s Cardiovascular Clinic at Ochsner offers preventative tests, including cholesterol screenings, stress
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Dr. Salima Qamruddin, Director Women’s Cardiovascular Clinic and Director Echo Quality and Research, John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute
Dr. Merrill Stewart, Associate Program Director Cardiovascular Fellowship, John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute
testing and calcium scoring to evaluate future risks. Doctors also help patients learn how to incorporate exercise, develop mindful eating habits and offer support to quit smoking or deal with stress. “Our role is to find women with a high risk profile, and turn their risk around,” she said. “We come at it from the point of view of prevention.”
more heart attacks in their 50s, whereas cardiac disease typically strikes women aged 65 and over. Heart attacks in women also have different mechanisms. “What’s been shown in studies is that women have blockages in smaller arteries. Think of it like a river with lots of tributaries and lots of branches. The main vessel doesn’t get blocked, but the branches do,” she said. Also, dissection in arteries of the heart, where the inside wall of the artery tears, is more common in women. These blockages aren’t always recognized by the medical community because many cardiologists look for
Ref raming heart disease For Dr. Qamruddin, raising awareness starts with changing the narrative around heart disease. There’s a lack of publicity around heart attacks in women and older women’s health in general, Dr. Qamruddin explained, because men tend to have
