Heart disease doesn’t discriminate

Most unaware cardiovascular disease is No. 1 killer of women

By Rachel Pinkstaff We all know that heart disease is a top killer of men, but here’s a lesser-known statistic: cardiovascular disease claims the lives of more women than breast cancer and lung cancer combined. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of women, causing one of every three deaths each year. But this information still isn’t widely known, especially in minorities and younger women. According to the AHA, women 25-34 years old had the lowest awareness rate of any group, at 44 percent. In 1997, only one in three women correctly identified heart disease as the number one killer of women. Since launching the Go Red For Heart Disease campaign in 2003, the number of women who know that heart disease is their leading cause of death has nearly doubled. Why then, do so many women’s heart conditions go undiagnosed? “The biggest mistake is to try to treat and assume that everybody’s presentation of women’s heart attack and acute presentation of cardiovascular conditions is just like men’s,” says Alex Rainow, MD, MS, and Cardiopulmonary Medical Director for Sonoma Valley Hospital.

Dr. Alex Rainow

“Women are commonly overlooked,” Rainow explains. “Their symptoms were previously missed and they were sent home when presenting symptoms of a heart attack.” So what are signs of heart attack in women? While most do experience some kind of chest pain or discomfort, it is not always severe or even the most notable symptom. Women are more likely to have heart attack symptoms unrelated to chest pain, like neck, jaw, shoulder or upper back discomfort, shortness of breath, pain in one or both arms, nausea, sweating, lightheadedness or dizziness, according to Mayo Clinic. This may be because women tend to have blockages not only in their main arteries, but also in smaller ones that supply blood to the heart. It’s not just heart attacks that should be on women’s radars. Heart disease also includes valvular disease, which affects how the valves function to regulate blood flow in and out of the heart, and coronary artery heart disease that affects the arteries to the heart, among others. The number one risk factor for developing coronary disease is having a family history of it, but others include diabetes, smoking or a history of drug use, and high blood pressure or high cholesterol. See Rainow on Page 14