2-14-06

Women’s Heart Health

Heart disease is a major cause of death of women of all ages. It kills about 500,000 women each year.

One in every three women dies of heart disease in the United States. The disease in women may not be easily recognized because some women have different symptoms for heart attack than men, says Dr. Susan Hingle, associate professor of internal medicine at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield. She describes some of the symptoms:

SOUND BITE: ". . . a lot of women will get what we call atypical symptoms. They may have palpitations, which is fluttering of the heart. They may just have some shortness of breath. They may simply notice that their exercise tolerance has decreased. They used to be able to go up two flights out steps without being short of breath. Now they can only go up a half a flight of steps."

Women have increased risk of heart disease if they have diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol. Family history of early heart disease, smoking and being overweight are also risk factors. Dr. Hingle says awareness of risk factors is very important in preventing heart disease. If heart disease is suspected she recommends some specific tests for women.

SOUND BITE: ". . . we'll do what's called a nuclear stress test, which is a more detailed test and improves the accuracy considerably. What’s always been considered the gold standard is the cardiac catheterization, where the cardiologist will inject dye and actually directly visualize what the cardiac vessels look like."

Dr. Hingle says there are a number of newer treatments for heart disease. Also, women can lessen their risk of heart disease by quiting smoking and getting a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise on most days. If a woman has symptoms for heart attack, she should see her primary care physician or go to the hospital emergency department as quickly as possible.

This is Ruth Slottag at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield.