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Heart disease is the number one killer of women, yet many women may not know they're at risk. In this segment of KSMU's series on heart disease, Michele Skalicky talks with health experts as well as a heart attack survivor about women and heart disease.
Heart disease is the number one cause of death among American women. 267,000 women die each year of heart attacks. That's six times as many lives as breast cancer claims.
Karen Prock was almost one of those women. It was 1996 and Prock was 36-years-old when she started having heart problems. She remembers the moment when she knew she could be following in the footsteps of her father and older brother.
She was in denial at first (many women are) and waited it out for a few hours.
She hadn't had any warning signs leading up to that point, just a pain in her back. But, finally, she woke up her husband and he took her to the hospital.
Prock had stents put in and stayed in intensive care for 5 days. She's since had new stents put in and is trying hard to prevent future heart attacks.
According to Sheila Bowen, registered nurse and employee wellness coordinator at Missouri State, one in every 3 women will die of heart disease.
According to Bowen, more women need to learn what the symptoms of heart disease are. Dr. Lakshmi Parvathaneni, a cardiologist at St. John's Health System, says women tend to have different warning signs than men.
In general, women are more likely to die from heart attacks. Sheila Bowen says that's, in part, because women tend to put off seeking treatment.
According to Parvathaneni, more women in their 30s and 40s are developing heart disease. She says that's probably due to more young people smoking, an increase in sedentary lifestyles and rising rates of obesity, which leads to high blood pressure and diabetes.
Parvathaneni hopes St. John's will be part of an effort to determine why more younger women are suffering heart attacks.
Another difference between women and men when it comes to heart disease is the effectiveness of medication. Dr. Parvathaneni says women tend to have less relief than men with the medications that are available to them after a heart attack.
She says no one's sure why that is. Bowen says a lot of studies are being done and she believes there will be medication in the future that's geared specifically towards women.
One thing that could make a difference for women is an increase in the number of women entering the field of cardiology. According to the American College of Cardiology, in 2003, 14% of those in training to be cardiologists were women. In 2006, that number increased to 18%. Dr. Parvathaneni says having more female cardiologists should benefit women.
Sheila Bowen says, even though more women are becoming aware that heart disease could affect them, not enough women are taking steps to prevent it. The number one thing they can do, she says, is to start exercising.
That may not be possible for many women since they often have many demands on their time, but Bowen says any amount of exercise they can fit in will help.
Tomorrow morning at 7:30 as our series on heart disease continues, we'll look at treatment options for those that have suffered a heart attack.
This program is available on the web at ksmu.org. For KSMU news, I'm Michele Skalicky.
