American Heart Month
Spotlight on the World’s Most Pressing Health Concern
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, but affects men and women differently in ways we all need to better understand.
The complex mix of risk factors, causes, and symptoms differ in men and women, and even the same risk factors such as age, lifestyle, and other existing health conditions, present and play out differently. According to the NIH:
- Women tend to have heart attacks at older ages than men.
- The same issues – smoking, stress, high blood sugar and blood pressure, and being overweight – increase heart attack risk in women more than men.
- Women are more likely to have heart attacks that are NOT associated with coronary artery disease, which makes diagnosis of heart attacks more difficult for health care professionals.
- Women experience more health problems following a heart attack.
And while both men and women can experience chest pain during a heart attack, often considered the classic symptom, women are more likely to have a different constellation of symptoms, including:
- Pain in the shoulder, back, or arm.
- Shortness of breath.
- Unusual tiredness and weakness.
- Upset stomach.
- Anxiety.
Because they may not recognize these individual or cluster of symptoms as a heart attack, women may not seek treatment right away or at all, which ultimately results in an increased risk of serious health problems following a heart attack.
Indeed, according to Heart.org, heart disease has long been thought to be a “man’s disease,” and women have long been left out of the research. But these things are changing.
In 2003, the Heart Truth launched its Red Dress image symbolizing women and heart disease, and the American Heart Association followed in 2004 with its Go Red for Women campaign – both high-profile efforts to increase awareness about heart disease and stroke, the leading causes of death among women.
While progress has been made, Heart.org reports that:
…a staggering 70% of physician trainees report they aren’t getting enough, if any, education in gender-based medical concepts during postgraduate medical training. In a nationwide survey, only 22% of primary care doctors and 42% of cardiologists said they feel extremely well prepared to assess cardiovascular risks in women.”
In fact, there still exist many gaps in knowledge about the ways in which:
…heart disease disproportionately affects women from different racial and ethnic groups. Compared to other women in the U.S., Black women have the highest rates of high blood pressure, stroke, heart failure and coronary artery disease. They also have been less likely to be included in clinical studies.
A growing body of evidence suggests structural racism and other social determinants of health play a role, such as having less access to health care services and healthy foods or challenges created by language barriers and acculturation. Many of these conditions likely add to their stress, …which in turn can contribute to higher cardiovascular risks.”
Another structural issue facing women with heart disease is that there are too few women in cardiology, which directly affects treatment, because they have a harder time finding a physician who can understand firsthand what they are experiencing.
“There are not enough women and especially not enough women of color who are entering the field of cardiology,” said Dr. Gina Lundberg, clinical director of the Emory Woman’s Heart Center and a professor at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. “If you’re a male taking care of a female, you may have a bias that women are more dramatic about pain or don’t have as big a heart problem. But if you are a woman taking care of a woman, you may listen differently.”
These exceedingly complex and interdependent variables, which affect women so differently, meet at the intersection of economic, social, environmental, and individual factors present within the larger context of health and human services programs and the state and federal agencies that run them. Finding a way forward through this landscape and its varied terrain takes a knowledgeable and skilled partner.
How Myers and Stauffer Can Help
At Myers and Stauffer, we are dedicated to helping our state and federal clients achieve health care, wellbeing, and health equity for women and for ALL their fragile and underserved populations facing myriad risk factors and social determinants of health.
From Behavioral Health, to PACE: Program of All-inclusive Care of the Elderly, to Home and Community-Based Services, or Waivers and Federal Authorities Consulting and Support Services, to name just a few, that provide unique opportunities, our teams are working on numerous fronts across a spectrum of programs and services to help provide health parity and better outcomes for all.
Click here to see all of our program and service areas, click here to read our Insights about these and other issues affecting people across the nation, and contact a member of our team today.
Author
| Julia Kotchevar, MA
Director, HCBS and Behavioral Health PH 512.340.7425 |
