Worse than breast cancer

The majority of women in the UK are dangerously unaware of the deadly threat of coronary heart disease (CHD) and (we need) immediate action to tackle the number one killer of women (British Heart Foundation)

A few days ago we looked at Dr Helen’s Smith’s experience as she struggled to get her serious cardiac problems diagnosed by the medical profession. (See again : More than you wanted to know about my heart attack)

Doctors and nurses and all the allied professions working in the NHS need to be more aware of the problem if we are to avoid repeats of Dr Helen Smith’s experience. We discussed this last weekend in “A raw deal for women”. The comments showed a worrying degree of complacency amongst some of the nurses on the front line. But it is not just the health care professionals who need to be more alert.

The patients themselves, in this case women, need to understand the risks. Four years ago today, on Valentine' Day 2003, the BHF published the excellent "Take Note of Your Heart":

Click to download the full document

• Only one in four women recognise that CHD is the single biggest threat to their life expectancy
• Four times more women die from heart disease than from breast cancer
• Twice as many women (125,931) die from cardiovascular diseases (CHD and stroke) as die from all cancers (76,531) in the UK in 2001.
• We do not know how to prevent breast cancer; we do know how to prevent heart disease.
• Studies suggest inequalities in treatment, investigation and surgery between men and women
• A recent US study found that popular magazines devoted more space to breast cancer than to heart disease, even though the risks of heart disease are significantly greater

Today, Valentine's Day once again, there is some good news from the USA:

US researchers say they have developed a more accurate method of predicting if a woman is at risk of heart disease.

The Reynolds Risk Score considers more than just traditional risk factors such as age, blood pressure, cholesterol level and smoking. Featured in the Journal of the American Medical Association, it aims to predict the 10-year risk of heart disease. New factors taken into consideration include parental history of heart attack before the age of 60, and levels of C-reactive protein, which has been linked to clogged arteries and damage to blood vessels in the heart. (BBC)

A bit of media ignorance there. In the UK (and I am sure in the USA as well) family history has always been taken into account. But C-reactive protein has not routinely been done as a screening test. CRP is a simple and cheap blood test that can easily be done by family doctors.

Judy O'Sullivan, a cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said the key is

“to get women to present themselves for assessment in the first place. Many women don't recognise heart disease as being an issue for them"

The British Heart Foundation has a booklet specifically aimed at helping women to prevent heart disease.

Click on the picture to download

It pays to keep up with research. The best news of all to emerge recently from research into heart disease prevention applies to both men and women alike.

A six-year Greek study found that those who took a 30-minute siesta at least three times a week had a 37% lower risk of heart-related death. (BBC)

Excellent. I shall start today.