Women are unnecessarily suffering and dying from heart disease
by CBC:Women urgently need to catch up to men in Canada's health-care system because they are suffering and dying unnecessarily from heart disease, according to a new report.Heart & Stroke released a report titled "Ms. Understood" on Thursday that describes how women are at greater risk than men of not having their disease diagnosed and treated.Women are five times more likely to die from heart disease than breast cancer, the report's authors say. But two-thirds of heart disease clinical research focuses on men.The reasons for the disparities are varied. Overall, women's hearts are smaller than men's. But there are other differences, said Karin Humphries, scientific director of the BC Centre for Improved Cardiovascular Health and one of the report's authors."While both men and women are most likely to complain of chest pain, the nature of that chest pain can be different," Humphries said in an interview. "Women, rather than describing it as a crushing pain might describe it as a heaviness or a discomfort or pressure."Women are also more likely to have more non-specific symptoms, such as fatigue, shortness of breath, sweats and palpitations, cardiologists say.The report's authors say heart attacks are more deadly for women in part because their hearts are affected by pregnancy, menopause and hormonal changes. For instance, nearly one-third of young women with premature acute heart attacks have a history of pregnancy disorders, such as gestational diabetes or hypertension that doubles their lifetime risk for heart disease.Physiological differences are also part of the reason, said Dr. Paula Harvey, chief of the department of medicine and cardiology division head at Women's College Hospital in Toronto. She was not involved in the report."What's really troubling to a lot of us is in the younger women — so women less than 60 — we're actually seeing the rates of heart disease and death going up," Harvey said. "And these women, in particular, if they have a heart attack, are more likely than men to have a second heart attack or die within 12 months of that heart attack.Heart & Stroke said the disease in women remains understudied, underdiagnosed and undertreated.